New Delhi [India], Nov 12 : As India gears up to play their first-ever day-night Test with a pink ball, batsmen Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara expressed their excitement.
India and Bangladesh are slated to play their first-ever day-night Test at Eden Gardens, Kolkata from November 22-26.
Board of Control for Cricket in India shared a video on Twitter in which both players can be seen talking about the challenges that await the Indian team.
“Pujara, Rahane looking forward to the historic pink-ball Test. Ahead of the Test series, #TeamIndia batsmen @ajinkyarahane88 and @cheteshwar1 are excited to play the pink-ball Test and consider adaptation the key,” BCCI tweeted.
Pujara, Rahane looking forward to the historic pink-ball Test
Ahead of the Test series, #TeamIndia batsmen @ajinkyarahane88 and @cheteshwar1 are excited to play the pink-ball Test and consider adaptation the key.
Full video here – https://t.co/nsqitG3gaF pic.twitter.com/c3xDx2qTAH
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 12, 2019
“Day-night would be really interesting. Earlier, I played in the Duleep Trophy with the pink ball and it was interesting to play with that ball. Now we will play the international day-night Test. Yes, it will be exciting,” Pujara said.
“During the day, there would be no concerns regarding the visibility of the pink ball. In my opinion, the twilight period would be really challenging as to how one sights the ball. When I talked to other players, they told me picking the ball out of wrist spinners was a challenge,” he added.
Rahane said that adapting to the new conditions would not be a problem for the Indian side. He also said that the match would be very exciting for the fans as well.
“I am very excited as it is a new challenge. When we play the match, we will get the idea then. When we have practice sessions before the match, then only we can assess how pink ball behaves. From the fan point of view, it would be really exciting,” Rahane said.
“As a batsman, playing late would be the key. Pink ball swings late and it would be essential in playing the ball late. I do not think there would be any problems in adapting,” he added.
On October 29, it was announced that India and Bangladesh would play their first-ever day/night Test at Eden Gardens.
When BCCI president Sourav Ganguly was asked how long did it take to convince skipper Virat Kohli to play the day/night Test, he replied: “”I had met Virat on October 25th for an hour and my first question was, we need to have day-night Test cricket and the answer in three seconds was let’s go ahead and do it. I found him absolutely acceptable to play day-night Test matches”.
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