Team India during a practice session
Team India and the Bangladesh cricket team are slated to be part of a historic Test later this month at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. After the three-match T20I series which the Men in Blue won 2-1, the two nations will engage in a two-Test series in India. While the first will be played in Indore starting November 14, the second will be held in Kolkata on November 22. The second Test will mark the debut appearance of both the Test playing nations in the day-night format using the pink ball. And hence, to prepare themselves better against the new kind of ball, Virat Kohli and his men have requested for a special practice session at the Holkar Stadium.
“The Indian Team will be practising with the pink ball under lights from 5 pm to 6 pm today (Tuesday) against a black sight-screen,” MPCA head curator Samandar Singh Chouhan told Hindustan Times. “We have got this request and have made the preparations accordingly.”
It was earlier last weekend that SG delivered their first batch of pink balls to the BCCI for a practice session at the NCA. Barring India and Bangladesh, it will also be a debut appearance of the SG pink.
In 11 Day-Night Tests that have been played since its international inception, only the kookaburra and Dukes pink were used. In fact, between 2016 and 2018 in Duleep Trophy campaign, the kookaburra pink was used and it received poor reviews from the players. Hence SG was given the responsibility of manufacturing around six dozens of pink balls to BCCI ahead of the series. Besides, Ganguly felt, "the series has to be played with same ball. It can’t be two different balls in the same series."
