Day/Night Tests not on India’s agenda at the moment

As the BCCI announced the schedule for India’s 2018-19 home season, featuring matches against West Indies and Australia.
India skipper Virat Kohli (File| AP)
India skipper Virat Kohli (File| AP)

CHENNAI: As the BCCI announced the schedule for India’s 2018-19 home season, featuring matches against West Indies and Australia, the question that remains unanswered is whether or not the team would play a day/night Test.

Sourav Ganguly, who was a special invitee at the tours and fixtures committee meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, is understood to have pushed for pink-ball Tests. But the Committee of Administrators (CoA) being lukewarm to the idea and the team management's reluctance seem to have put a roadblock on the way of D/N Tests in India, at least for the time being.

Following Afghanistan’s tour of India for their maiden Test in June at Bengaluru, Kohli & Co will host West Indies after their two-month tour of England. The series against the Caribbeans will commence after Diwali and include two Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is. The Tests allotted to Hyderabad and Rajkot will start the tour. This means that like last year, the team would leave for a foreign Test assignment (Australia) after playing limited-over matches. Also, they will have little time to acclimatise. Although the team management has repeatedly requested the BCCI to keep this aspect in mind, it seems that the situation is not going to change.

Australia would return to India in February for a series of limited-overs games. Mohali (February 24), Hyderabad (February 27), Nagpur (March 2), Delhi (March 5) and Ranchi (March 8) will host the ODIs. Bengaluru and Vizag will stage the two T20s. Express understands that dates for the West Indies tour will only be confirmed after the team-management gives its inputs. There is a possibility that they might pitch for the Test series to be held after the limited-over matches, as some sort of preparation for the Australia tour. But such a move can also infuriate broadcasters, who prefer limited-over fixtures during the festival period.

With regards to D/N Tests, the team management is still not convinced. They believe it will deny them home advantage. But Ganguly seems to have reminded others during the meeting that India has to accept at some point in time and also cited the growing attention these matches are receiving, especially in Australia.

If India don’t play a D/N Test against West Indies, it will rule out the possibility of them playing one during their tour Down Under. Though the BCCI has finalised the schedule for Australia’s tour next year, Cricket Australia is yet to announce the fixtures for India’s visit later this year. As reported by this newspaper earlier, the CA is keen on scheduling a pink-ball Test at Adelaide. But the Indian team’s reluctance is delaying its decision.

Schedule:

  • India vs West Indies

  • Tests: Hyderabad & Rajkot

  • ODIs: Mumbai, Guwahati, Kochi, Indore & Pune.

  • T20Is: Kolkata, Chennai & Kanpur.

  • India vs Australia

  • ODIs: Mohali (Feb 24), Hyderabad (Feb 27), Nagpur (March 2), Delhi (March 5), Ranchi (March 8).

  • T20Is: Bengaluru (March 10) & Visakhapatnam (March 13).

venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com

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