No Army paratroopers for handing over pink ball to captains

Security concerns meant Cricket Association of Bengal cancelled its plan to have Army paratroopers flying into Eden Gardens to hand over a pink ball each to captains before toss of day-night Test. According to sources at CAB, security clearance did t come a day ahe of historic match between India and Banglesh here. Union Home Minister Amit Shah won't be in attendance as per final programme list sent by CAB. Banglesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate India's first-ever D/N Test by ringing customary Eden Bell just before start of play.

RE | Hope This SG Is 5 Times More Successful Than That SG: Sunil Gavaskar On BCCI Chief Ganguly

With match taking place in winter, re is also a change in conventional pink ball Test timing, where tea break is followed by a lengthy 40-minute supper. Eden Test will have usual lunch break after first session, at 3pm, while last break would be tea, spanning 20 minutes.  As per ICC rm, playing conditions can be altered by mutual consent of both countries.

RE | DDCA Director Speaks About Naming Kotla’s rth Stand After Gautam Gambhir

During lunch break, re will be a chat show involving Fab Five -- Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, architect of D/N Test. or former cricketers who have confirmed ir presence include S Ramesh, Saba Karim, Sunil Joshi, Ajit Agarkar, Venkatesh Pras, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Kris Srikkanth, Farook Engineer and Chandu Borde. Athletes from or sports disciplines will include Abhinav Bindra, P Gopichand, P V Sindhu, Sania Mirza and Mary Kom, but chess legends Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen will t be able to turn up.

RE | Kolkata: Best Of Sportspersons To Attend India's Day And Night Test

Naimur Rahman, Mohammed Mahmudul Hasan, Maharab Hossain, Mohammed Hasibul Hussain, Shahriar Hossain Biddut, Kazi Habibul Bashar and Mohammed Akram Khan are former Banglesh cricketers who have confirmed ir presence. tea break will feature an instrumental by Sorendu and Group while former captains will be given a Lap of hour. grand felicitation will happen post-match with a performance by Runa Laila, while a cultural programme by Jeet Ganguly will conclude opening day. 

RE | 'BringBackDhoni': Netizens Express Agitation After Dhoni Excluded From Indian Squ