IND vs BAN | Five Indian cricketers to practise with pink balls at NCA

IND vs BAN | Five Indian cricketers to practise with pink balls at NCA

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Five Indian cricketers will practise with pink balls at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) on Sunday as part of the home team’s preparation for the Day-Night Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata. The teams will play two Test matches, the first one at Indore, as part of the ICC Test Championship.

After NCA director Rahul Dravid made the decision to train with the pink ball, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Shami, and Ravindra Jadeja has opted to be part of the session organised on Sunday. The initial plan to have at least two days of practice fell through since the official supplier of the pink ball, Sanspareil Greenlands (SG), only managed to deliver the first batch of 60 pink balls on Saturday. The visiting team will get the pink balls on Monday in Indore, the venue for the first Test, starting on November 14.

“The practice will be on centre wicket where practice will be done in the form of match stimulation. Dravid, too, will be part of it. The Karnataka State Cricket Association will provide bowlers and fielders for the session. We wanted to have a couple of days under night but due to unavoidable circumstances it was decided to have only one day,” a BCCI source told The Indian Express. 

It was newly-elected BCCI president Sourav Ganguly who pushed both teams to agree to play a Test under lights. While some Indian players such as Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Agarwal, and Rahane have played with the pink ball in a Duleep Trophy game three seasons ago, Bangladesh has played a domestic final with it, though that was way back in 2013. It is understood that Australia is now pushing for two pink-ball Tests against India next year Down Under, after being rejected by the Men in Blue when they had toured the country In 2018. 

Ganguly further thanked the two teams for their cooperating in quick time and also dismissed worries of dew hampering the spinners under lights.

“We will make sure there’s no dew. After all day/night one-dayers are played here. There’s this dew treatment spray and all. Nothing will happen. Test cricket needs this push. Thanks to Virat (Kohli) also, he agreed straight away. And even more to Bangladesh Cricket Board that they agreed at such short notice. It’s a good way forward,” Ganguly said.

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