Eden Gardens Day Night Test: India to step into the pink ball era

India and Bangladesh will make history later in November when the two teams play their first-ever Day-Night Test match. The proposal was made to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) by the newly-elected BCCI President Sourav Ganguly in an attempt to rejuvenate interest in Test cricket after sparse crowds seen during the South Africa Test series. This will be a historic moment as Day-Night Test matches will allow office goers to watch the game after work and will also be a new experience for the players.

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When did pink-ball cricket start?

Day-Night Test matches are played with a pink ball which ensures optimum visibility in the air and on the ground. The first Day-Night Test match was played between Australia and New Zealand in 2015 at Adelaide and ended up being won by Australia. The match balls were chosen to be pink after manufacturer Kookaburra experimented with optic yellow and bright orange. The seam was changed to black after ex-Aussie skipper Steve Smith mentioned that the seam of the ball needed to be more visible, after participating in the first day-night Test match.

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Landmark moment for Indian cricket

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Indian cricket is about to participate in a Day-Night Test match for the first time after the BCB and skipper Virat Kohli gave a nod to Sourav Ganguly's proposal for a Day-Night Test match. It has been revealed that the BCCI is concerned about the supply of quality pink balls for the upcoming games. Sanspareils Greenlands, SG, India's usual producer of red balls, has not been able to do a good job of producing pink balls which the BCCI has tried to experiment with. Indian conditions are a little different from the conditions in Australia and England and the balls tend to lose colour and shape in as early as 20 overs in the subcontinent. BCCI may look at importing Duke's or Kookaburra balls for the upcoming pink-ball Test.

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