Pink ball’s future in India a doubt as players express their concern

India’s first pink-ball Test match was a huge success on paper, with the home side cruising to a dominating 2-0 series win over the Asian rivals Bangladesh. However, everything was not as hunky-dory as BCCI’s president Sourav Ganguly would have hoped for. 

According to the Indian Express, the team had issues of ‘sighting’ the pink ball under the skies at the Eden Gardens. Further, it is revealed that the team is united against the use of the pink ball from the next time with players preferring the red cherry to the pink one. Despite having concerns with the ball, the Kohli-led team took the field to only dismantle the visitors. 

“We felt sighting the ball was an issue. Apart from visibility, the ball was also too hard. Look at how Bangladesh batsman got hit; it was a challenge to sight the ball even during fielding. Any bowler who can bowl 140 kph plus will be tough to handle. Look at what the Indian pacers did. The ball travelled faster than the regular red ball and under lights, the sighting was an issue to be honest,” reported the Indian Express. 

Early next year, Kohli and co are set to face New Zealand in a two-match Test series where the home side are looking to push in favour of the pink ball. With Kohli’s criticism of the pink ball, it is only left to see if the Indian team and the BCCI gives a nod to facing the pink ball anytime in the future.