While the world embraces day/night Tests, India are still caught in the twilight zone

Indian cricket, in recent times, has been resistant and thereby delayed to any innovation in the game. Be it Twenty20 cricket – India had played only one T20 international before the inaugural edition of the World T20 a decade ago – or the Decision Review System – which India fully accepted only last year, but without HotSpot.

So it comes as no surprise that the Indian cricket board hasn’t warmed up to floodlit Test matches as yet, despite the brief domestic experiment with the pink ball. But even as the world adjusts to day/night Tests, with even an Ashes Test planned to be played under lights, it is only a matter of time before this new innovation becomes widely accepted in the Test-playing nations.

In fact, it is this proposed day/night Ashes match that prompted England, usually the cricket traditionalists, to host the first ever floodlit Test in the country, in the series opener against West Indies on Thursday. This will only be the fifth match since the day-night format since Australia and New Zealand contested the first in Adelaide in November 2015.

Australia has already been part of three of the four day/night Tests and already have a head start. With India having a scheduled tour of Australia planned later next year, it is reasonable to expect Virat Kohli’s men may have to make their pink ball debut soon.

But is India ready for day/night Tests?

This is a question to be answered on three levels – players, administrators, and fans.

The easiest of the three is the last: There is very little contention whether day/night Tests will be accepted by the cricket loving population of India.

Other than the obvious fan following in the country, day/night matches will be more accessible due to the after-hours timing, meaning unprecedented fan involvement, from home and the ground. A Test match broadcasted during prime time: imagine the viewership for the longest format of the game.

“The novelty factor would bring in people initially”, says Faraz Baig, a cricket enthusiast who has travelled to England and Australia to watch Tests, “If it’s an experiment to draw more fans to the stadium, then it will work wonders in the first couple of years at least, especially in the last session.”

“One of the reasons why the IPL fit in perfectly is because in metros people are short on time and it works well for them if you can give them a format which is crisp and they can go watch it in a stadium in the evening after work,” Vipul Yadav, who has watched international cricket at around nine venues across India said.

Yadav is part of the North Stand Gang, a fan club that started in the North Stand of the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and hasn’t missed a Test in the stadium for years now. “Whenever I have had to watch a Test match, I have always had to take leave in advance. But a day/night match will allow fans the option to work for half a day and go,” he said.

However, it may not be as accessible to the working class fans given the current stadium scenario. “But from a fan’s perspective, there are several things that need to be tweaked. If people are coming from work, they will have their bags. This is not possible at cricket stadiums right now, because they are overtly strict about security and the things taken inside,” he adds.

“It’s a nightmare for fans to watch a match at most stadiums in India,” concurs Baig, recounting the restrictions on carrying things inside and how Wankhdede often runs out of drinking water. These statements are not far from the truth as the Mumbai ground is extremely strict about security, with even loose change being confiscated at the entrance.

Unlike cricket matches abroad, where spectators can bring their own food, alcohol, and basically have a party, a day/night Test may not be the same spectacle in India

Neil Snowball, Warwickshire’s chief executive who was part of both 2012 Olympic and 2015 Rugby World Cup organising committees, outlined to The Guardian the various preparations Edgbaston did to ensure England’s first ever floodlit Test goes off well for all parties.

“We’ve created a beach area behind the Wyatt stand, partly because it’s the West Indies as well, so we’ve got a rum shack, a big screen, we’ve got deckchairs. People will see a bit of a pink theme about the place.”

And it is already very well received with Day two being sold out, and 92% and 98% of tickets for the first and third day being taken as well, according to BBC.

Levels of preparation

But the bigger question here is whether the Indian cricket administrator are ready to host a day/night test, given the many levels of preparation needed before and during the event. They have many tangible problems at this stage – the pink ball still needs work to make it visible and durable, not every outfield in the country is capable of fast drainage or as immune to the dew factor and not all Test pitches will be attuned to the needs to the relatively fragile and shinier pink ball.

In fact, dew would be a bigger factor in India than other places, but there is a way to work around this, according to Snowball. His team got adjuvant spray from Abu Dhabi, which is regularly used in hotter climates to help disperse evening dew and have been using it in England.

The other factor is again based in the weather in England. The sun sets later in the day in there so it’s bright even at about 8 or 9 o’clock and the lights won’t come into effect as much. Moeen Ali spoke about how twilight would be an interesting time in the match, given the changes it can bring to the conditions.

Duleep Trophy Experiment

When it comes to the players, there is once again a lot left to do, even if this may be the last step. Very few cricketers in the current Indian scheme of things have got a taste of the pink ball, even though this was precisely the idea behind the day/night Duleep Trophy. But in the end, it was a run fest despite the colour of the ball. Unsurprisingly, Cheteshwar Pujara made hay under the floodlights with 453 runs in two matches, with scores of 256*,0, 166 and 31. Among the bowlers, Kuldeep Yadav finished as the highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets while Ravindra Jadeja (5/95 and 5/76) also turned his wrists to good effect.

But the bigger takeaways were players’ opinions. One frequent complaint, other than visibility, was that the pink ball didn’t help fast bowlers in any way. The wear and tear was rapid and there was no scope to do much with the old ball, with reverse swing all but impossible. The spinners seemed to do well, but there was little balance between bat and ball - all of which can be a problem for India’s “home advantage.” Till the players get used to it, even in Indian conditions, it will be hard to gauge the impact the cricket played will have.

However, the four Test matches so far have all been competitive and exciting, which is a positive sign. Day/night Tests in India will definitely spice up the longest version of the game, if made into an occasion, albeit not a rare one, for fans. But it will dependent on the administrators to prepare both the conditions and cricketers for it.