The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli addressed the media ahead of the historic day-night Test against Bangladesh at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata and labeled it as a landmark occasion for Indian cricket. He also feels that despite the excitement, pink-ball Tests can’t become a norm in the future.
Kohli said, “The pink-ball Test is a challenge for us. It is very exciting for us as the energy will be very high. It is a landmark occasion. I can’t speak for another team or board. But our conversations with the BCCI over the last few years has been to improve our Test game. The fielding session with the pink ball was the biggest challenge. People will be surprised how difficult fielding can be with the pink ball. The ball definitely felt heavier. While taking slip catches the ball really hit the hands hard. Even while throwing from the boundary, the fielders felt they needed to put extra effort.”
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He further added, “I think during the day, high catches will be very difficult. We had to watch the balls straight into our palms more often than not. So, I think, the fielding session for me was far more challenging. Batting anyway, as I said, the mind was already tuned to wanting to play a lot more solid so we didn’t face that many difficulties. We’d practiced before as well.”
As the challenges around playing with the pink ball for the first time pile up, Kohli put the onus of combating it on the precision of the decision-making of the individuals at play.
Virat explained, “It’ll require more concentration, more solid technique. More compact game compared to the red ball, purely because anyway in the longer format, the ball does a lot more than the white ball. Add not having great visibility or the ability to pick that color, it makes it even more difficult. Your idea of off stump, I think that’s going to be the most crucial thing. Because even yesterday when we practiced, we felt that the ball could be closer to you but it’s not actually that close to the off stump.”
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The first-ever day-night Test match was played between Australia and New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval in November 2015. Four years later, the number one Test team in the world, India, will become the ninth Test team to play the pink-ball Test under lights after long resisting innovations to the five-day format.
Sharing his thoughts on the day-night Test’s future, Virat said, “This should not become the only way Test cricket is played. You can bring excitement into Test cricket but you can’t purely make Test cricket based on just entertainment. Those who enjoy the battle between bat and ball and great session of Test cricket, in my opinion, those are the people that should come and watch Test cricket because they understand what’s going on.”
The newly-elected BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, who convinced both teams to play under floodlights, has arranged a grand spectacle at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. As far as the series is concerned, the hosts already lead the two-match series 1-0 after an emphatic win in Indore.
