New Delhi:
Sourav Ganguly's tenure as the BCCI president has gotten off to a magnificent start after the former India captain historically announced that India and Bangladesh's Kolkata Test will be a Day-Night affair and will be played with the Pink Ball. The first day-night ODI in India was between India and Pakistan at the Feroz Shah Kotla in the 80s and Eden Gardens will now be witness to the first Day-Night Test. Only India and Bangladesh had not played a Pink Ball Test but on November 22, all that will change.
Cheteshwar Pujara has some experience playing with the Pink Ball. Pujara topped the run charts (453) with two daddy hundreds, including a 256 not out for India Blue in the Duleep Trophy more than three years back when pink ball was experimented with for the first time by the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI technical committee. In an interaction with PTI, Pujara highlighted some of the factors which both India and Bangladesh will have to contend with when they play the Pink Ball Test.
"In the twilight period, I feel that maybe, sighting the ball could be a little challenging. (But) the more you play, you get used to it. It's always about experience and knowing how the ball is behaving. The more we play, the more we gain experience of how to tackle the ball. Every ball has its challenges. I don't think it will require a huge change to shift from red ball to pink ball. The reason is it's the same format. We are still playing a five-day match. Yes, under lights, it will be different. But it's about getting used to the pink ball. That's what I feel. Rest, I don't think will be a major difference. Once we play some Test matches, we will be able to know the exact difference and can improvise," Pujara said.
Apart from Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Wriddhiman Saha, from the current Indian Test squad, have the experience of playing with a pink ball at the domestic level.
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Pujara also stated the times bowlers will get excessive help from the Pink Ball but remarked it was early days as to whether the Pink Ball will change the fortunes of Test cricket. "We wont' have any issue. Most of the guys have played in Duleep Trophy and for the ones who have not played, it would be a good learning curve for them. The help for the bowlers could come at a different times unlike the traditional Tests. It could be under lights or without lights. Once we play, we will get to know about all such things. We will have to adapt to it as quickly as possible," Pujara said.
