IND v BAN | Inexperience of playing with pink ball could give us edge over India, says Russell Domingo
Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo reckons that the decision to play their maiden Day-Night Test against India might work in his team’s favour as both teams have no experience with the pink ball. The Test match is scheduled to be held at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata from November 22-26.
After days of speculation and backchannel conversations between newly-elected BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), the decision was taken to play one of the two Tests in the series under lights. Head coach of the Bangladesh cricket team Domingo is of the belief that the unknown conditions of the match make the contest a level-playing field for both teams, even in terms of preparation.
“As a coach, I think it’s a great opportunity. I don’t think India played a pink-ball Test before, we haven't played a pink-ball Test either. It’s going to be a massive occasion at the Eden Gardens. It will be a new experience for both teams. So we’re very excited,” Domingo told PTI.
“It’s going to be a great occasion under lights in Kolkata against one of the best teams of all formats. So we’re really looking forward to the challenge. For sure there will be challenges because we’re not going to have a lot of time to prepare with a pink ball. It’ll be the same for both teams, not a lot of preparation time, but an exciting event. It’s new for both of the teams, so it can get the teams a little bit closer. And just the way the game is going, we’ve got to look at trying new things at certain times. As I said, we haven’t done much of it, but sometimes change is the best thing,” Domingo said.
Domingo further said that the proposal was met with reluctance from the Bangladesh players because of a lack of preparation time. He hopes that some of his pink-ball experience with the South African team will prove helpful to their cause.
“I’ve spoken to the players. For sure there were some concerns. Some guys actually said ‘we don’t know what to expect. A little bit of preparation is needed, there will be only two-three days between the first and the second Test. How much time are we going to have to get used to it? (But) during my time with South Africa, we played a pink-ball match in Adelaide. We had a warm-up game before that with a pink ball, we had a few sessions. Hopefully, we can share that information (with the players),” he said.
Meanwhile, former Mumbai spinner Nilesh Kulkarni — who had taken four wickets in the first-ever day-night Ranji Trophy final — reckons that adjusting the body clock for a five-day day-night affair might be difficult for the players.
“The biggest change between a one-day and five-day game is how the body clock sets for a five-day because all your eating and sleeping habits change. For an ODI, the body sets up quickly, but for a five-day match it is difficult, so it is interesting to see how that happens. It will be a bit challenging (for the players) to set the body clock and that will be interesting (to see),” Kulkarni said.