Players from the Indian team cricket team have raised concerns with the Board of Control for Cricket in India regarding the pink ball and according to a report by The Indian Express, the board is thinking over whether or not to conduct day-night Tests in the future.
The report quoted a BCCI official as saying that the players feel there are visibility issues with the pink ball and it also skids faster after pitching which makes life difficult for batsmen.
India beat England by 10 wickets in the third Test in Ahmedabad on Thursday, with the day-night encounter ending well inside two days. While pink balls generally aid fast bowlers, this match saw spinners dominate with 28 of the 30 wickets being taken by them.
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Axar Patel, who won the player of the match award for picking 11 wickets, used the arm ball (the one that pitches and goes straight on) to devastating effect as the extra lacquer on the pink ball made it skid off the surface.
“Muscle memory makes batsmen believe that the ball will come at a particular speed after pitching, like they are used to when playing with the red ball. But the pink ball comes much faster,” the BCCI official was quoted as saying.
“This is a major issue. Also, our players are not keen to play day-night Tests because the pink ball has too many variables, including difficulty in sighting the ball.”
After the game, Axar and Rohit Sharma had also spoken about how the pink ball skids faster and it is a challenge for the batsmen to adjust to the speed.
“The red ball does not come on so quickly onto the bat. It also has got to do with the conditions in the evening. The temperature goes down a degree or two plus there’s the dew factor as well. But all in all, the pace of the pink ball is slightly quicker than the red ball. It is something that we need to adjust to as quickly as possible and understand what we need to do,” Rohit had said.
Read the full story by The Indian Express here.
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