The first day-night test match was played in the year 2015 between Australia and New Zealand. After denying the request to play day-night tests, India, today makes debut for their pink ball test match after 4 years of its modern inception.
Earlier, Indian denied requests from Australia, and South Africa to participate and play a Day-Night Test game.
BCCI shared some facts about the Pink Ball on their twitter handle:
Did you know?#PinkBallTest #INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/qbXi3akJjd
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 21, 2019
Today, India stepped into the Eden Gardens embarking to their first ever day-night test match. The test match is being played against Bangladesh, and is the 2nd match in the 2 Test Match series. Bangladesh, too, is making their debut at the Day-Night Test match. Bangladesh is currently batting at 82 for the loss of 7 wickets after they chose to bat first against India. On this occasion, Indian captain Virat Kohli that the team will try to take the legacy of Indian legends and continue it in this pink ball game. BCCI shared a video of the Indian skipper on their twitter handle where he can also her heard saying, ‘it is difficult to play with a Pink Ball when compared to the other balls, and the first hour of the game will be crucial’.
It is a historic moment in Indian cricket and we are looking forward to playing in front of a packed house – Captain @imVkohli ahead of the #PinkBallTest #INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/fwVo1ehH5D
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 21, 2019
He also said ‘We are fulfilling the responsibility of debuting with the pink ball. After the set of legends we have had, I think it’s our responsibility that we are doing right. We are setting the right examples. Proud to have this opportunity to do so’.
Adding to the challenges of Pink Ball cricket, Kohli said ‘We would have batted first as well. Decent grass cover on it, but it’s a hard pitch. With the Pink ball there will be something for the first 15 overs.’ He continued by saying ‘this is another opportunity for us to come and execute our skills. The challenge is to adapt quickly to the ball. It travels fast and it’s difficult to control’.
India did not make any changes to the squad, and is bring the same team which won the last test match by an innings, however Bangladesh were seen making 2 changes to their side, dropped two spinners and brought 1 fast bowler and 1 batsman.
This day-night test match is the 12th match being played, also, Eden Garden is hosting its 42nd test match. This is the highest tally that have been achieved by any cricket stadium in India.
In the last 11 day-night tests matches, only two times has the toss winner elected to bat first. Also, 6 times, yes, 6 out of 11 times the game was won by the team who batted first, and 3 times won by the team bowling first.
Bangladesh lost their last match by a gigantic margin, however, they must have hoped that electing to bat first would give them advantage based on the stats. But as we get ahead in the day, the chances looks grim, as Bangladesh have already lost 7 wickets on Day 1 with only 82 runs on the scorecard.
