India’s long-wait to play a day-night Test match will soon be over as multiple reports confirmed on Tuesday that Bangladesh have given their agreement for the second game of the upcoming series, scheduled to take place in Kolkata, to be played under floodlights.
The Indian cricket team will now play its first ever day-night Test match, newly-appointed Board of Control for Cricket in India President Sourav Ganguly told PTI on Tuesday, ending days of speculation surrounding the game.
“It’s a good development. Test cricket needs this push. Me and my team were bent on it and thanks to Virat (Kohli) also, he agreed,” Ganguly told PTI.
The Test is scheduled to be held at the Eden Gardens from November 22-26 and will be the second game of a two-match series.
Ganguly had said that the Test will be played with the pink-ball under floodlights pending confirmation from his counterparts.
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According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, the primary concern for Bangladesh was their lack of match practice with the pink balls, which are used for day-night Tests. The report said that only one game has been played in the country with them: the first-class Bangladesh Cricket League final in February 2013. But it is worth nothing that India do not have significant pink-ball experience either: Virat Kohli’s side are the only Test-playing nation, apart from Bangladesh and the two new Full Members – Afghanistan and Ireland – to not have played a day-night Test yet.
“We all are thinking about this and we will do something about it. I am a firm believer in day-night Tests. I don’t know when will that happen. But till the time I am around, I will be pushing for it,” Ganguly had said after taking over as BCCI chief.
He had a meeting with Kohli in Mumbai on Thursday where the idea was floated. “I must say that Virat Kohli is agreeable to it. There are reports that he does not want to play day-night Tests, which is not the fact,” he added.
The home Tests against Bangladesh are the last ones for this season, and by the time the longest format returns to India, Ganguly’s reign as BCCI chief is likely to have ended. As a technical committee chairman, Ganguly in the past was a part of the decision to have Duleep Trophy under lights with a pink ball. However, the domestic bowlers had complaints about the quality of the SG Test pink balls which were used.
There are plans to invite India’s legendary Olympians like Abhinav Bindra, M C Mary Kom and P V Sindhu and felicitate them for their contribution to the country’s Olympic movement during the match.
Just like Cricket Australia’s annual Pink Test in association with the Jane McGrath Foundation to raise awareness about breast cancer, Ganguly wants the Eden Gardens’ Day-night Test to be an annual affair, reported PTI.
The first day-night Test was played in November 2015, between Australia and England.
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