IND vs BAN | We are a little wary, but excited to play pink-ball Test, says Ravichandran Ashwin

India has been riding high in the ICC Test Championship so far, with five wins out of five. But as the team heads to Kolkata for its first-ever day-night Test, on a re-laid pitch, Ashwin expects the pink ball to do a lot more than usual.

"I think having played in Kolkata before, it does a lot more in the evening and the pitch is re-laid. It does move a little bit with the white ball so you can imagine what could happen with the pink or orange ball. We are all little wary but excited about the game," Ashwin told PTI.

Although he is one of the few players in the Indian side to have not played with the pink ball, the senior-pro has welcomed the decision to play day-night Test cricket whole-heartedly. “Sometimes I don’t understand if it is orange or pink, still coming to terms with that (laughs). I haven’t even bowled a single delivery with the pink ball as I couldn’t play the Duleep Trophy two years ago. But it is a welcome sign for India as a Test-playing nation. It was important. Pink ball has a lot more lacquer and it will move. It is the right direction we have taken and it will be the start of something new,” he said.

Perhaps a major challenge for the players, according to Ashwin, will be to adjust to the new sleep schedule — the Test will be played from 1 PM to 8 PM. 

“You can’t sleep at 9 pm anymore but it is good that people who can’t make it to a Test match in the morning can make it for this match,” Ashwin said.

Meanwhile, the 33-year-old is in sync with his skipper Virat Kohli on the subject of having permanent Test centres, but he would like to leave it to the administrators to decide whether it is the right decision or not.

"Every other Test-playing nation generally has a certain pattern of playing Test cricket. They do know how the venue behaves, how the pitch behaves, how the games pan out. That's perennially how Test cricket works in most parts of the world. Even in India, it was no exception,” he said.

"The understanding of a particular venue and keeping it that way will help the players. Whether or not that's the right thing to do is something decision-makers will have to take," Ashwin added.