IND vs ENG | Imperative for India to win the pink-ball Test, affirms Deep Dasgupta

For India to qualify for the World Test Championship final, they would have to complete a series win over England, with a margin of 2-1 or 3-1. After the first two Tests, the two sides are tied at 1-1, with the series still open one for both sides. While it wouldn’t be enough for England to win the series 2-1 and qualify for the final, it would be enough to send hosts India out of the competition, which makes the last two Tests extremely important. 

With the pink-ball factor playing in minds of both the camps, it would be a crucial encounter to decide the fate of these two sides. Former Indian wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta has affirmed that it is imperative for India to win the pink-ball Test, in order to give themselves a better chance of reaching the final of the competition. He also stated that a draw could be as good a result for the hosts. 

“It’s imperative for India to win. Well, the draw is a possibility. India can afford a draw. Looking at things how Test match cricket is off late, very rarely you see draws. I mean the win is imperative as simple as that,” Deep Dasgupta told Sports Today, reported HT.

While pink-ball would not be the only difficulty for the two teams, with fielding, equally difficult in these conditions. With fresh new seats at the venue and a different light-setup, Dasgupta insisted that the pink ball would make the fielders’ life more troublesome combined with the orange seats. 

“There will be 50 odd thousand people sitting in the stands. The first thing that I noticed that the chairs were orange. This Pink ball is a little orangish so that would make the fielder's life that much more troublesome because I found it pretty difficult because the England team was practising,” he added.

Having watched the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy in close quarters, the former Indian wicketkeeper also affirmed that there were several dropped chances in the tournament, because of the venue. 

“They were taking catches and I found it very difficult to sight the ball at times. We actually saw few catches being dropped in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy,” he concluded.