Three reasons why BCCI might have opted against Day-Night Test vs Australia
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has refused to allow the Indian team to play the day-night Test match in Adelaide later this year in the Australian summer. According to the ICC rules, it’s mandatory to have the visiting team's approval to host a day-night Test match. Cricket Australia influenced the BCCI to play a day-night Test but the richest cricket board wanted the Test match to be played with the conventional red ball.
India have always been skeptical of playing a day-night Test while on the contrary, Australia have played four day-night Tests in the past three years and won them all.
Let’s have a look at the three reasons why India might have decided to avoid playing the day-night Test:
#1 Lack of experience
A majority of the Indian players haven’t had the experience of playing with the pink ball. India experimented with their first ever day-night Test in the Duleep Trophy in 2016 and it turned out to be a success. However, there are certain limitations with the pink ball in Indian conditions as dew might play a major factor and make things difficult for the bowlers.
The pink ball doesn’t lose its shine quickly like the red ball and it becomes difficult for the bowlers to reverse swing it, something the bowlers rely on in Indian conditions.
Kuldeep Yadav, one of India’s premier spin bowlers, had the experience of playing with the pink ball and the left arm chinaman bowler didn’t get much turn because of the shine and hardness of the ball, however, he got some drift.
With limited experience, India won’t take the risk of playing with the pink ball against a quality opponent like Australia who boast a 100 % success rate in Pink ball Tests thus far.