The Indian cricket team is well on the verge of playing at least one day/night Test during its tour of Australia later this year. However, on Monday, the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli also expressed his desire to give this idea a go. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah met the top officials of Cricket Australia and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) during an informal meeting in Mumbai on Monday.
It is understood that the “Meet and Greet” session was meant to discuss a range of policy issues with regards to the ICC’s proposed four-day Test matches, one global meet per year, a four-nation Super series involving the ‘Big Three’ and day/night Tests.
While no one was ready to come on record, it is understood that both the BCCI and Cricket Australia are on the same page as far as playing one day/night Test in Australia is concerned. During the 2018-19 tour, Cricket Australia had failed to convince BCCI to play a pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval. The Indian team management then cited a lack of experience of playing under lights as the reason.
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However, after Ganguly took over the reins of BCCI, the first-ever day-night Test in India took place between the hosts and Bangladesh, which prompted Cricket Australia to pitch for a day/night game during the next tour.
Describing the same to PTI, a senior BCCI official said, “The modalities are yet to be finalized but chances look bright that India will play a Test match under lights during their next tour of Australia.”
The official also confirmed that no such proposal has come from New Zealand Cricket (NZC). India will play two Tests in New Zealand next month.
Talking about the proposal, Virat had said, “We’re ready and up for the challenge – whether it’s Gabba, Perth… it doesn’t matter to us. It’s become a very exciting feature of any Test series and we’re open to playing day-night Tests.”
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As far as the ICC’s proposed one global white-ball tournament per year during the next FTP Cycle (2023-2031) is concerned, all the boards have expressed strong opposition.