CHENNAI: After a three-day finish in Indore, another Test that won’t go the distance is on the cards in Kolkata. The day-night Test starting on November 22 can also witness a short affair because the pitch at Eden Gardens will have more-than-usual grass, which might make batting difficult for both teams and lead to a finish well before the scheduled last day.
It’s no secret that, for the pink ball to retain colour over a period of time, the pitch and ground can’t be abrasive.
While most outfields in international venues in India have sufficient grass to make sure the ball rolls over a smooth surface, the pitches are usually bald. For India’s inaugural day-night Test, the Eden Gardens pitch will have a grass cover of at least 6mm.
Officials in Kolkata said that 6mm has to be the minimum length of grass on the playing strip to reduce the friction once the ball lands on the pitch.
“Over the last few years, the Eden pitch has had a grass cover of 4mm. This is reduced to 2mm for IPL or one-day matches to facilitate high scoring. For the day-night Test, the pitch will have a minimum of 6mm of grass. Or else, there will be a risk of the ball getting discoloured before 70 overs,” said a source.
To understand how the length of grass affects batting, one can recall the Ranji Trophy season of 2015-16, when, following the advice of the BCCI’s technical committee, pitches at all venues had a green cover of 4mm.
The result was a string of low-scoring games. Even the three club matches played at Eden under lights with pink balls were over in two or three days.
Considering these factors, odds are high that the day-night Test too will experience something similar.
After a cyclone hit the city about eight days ago, preparations for the Test are on in full swing in Kolkata.
BCCI’s chief pitch curator Ashish Bhowmik has stationed himself there to oversee the work done by the Cricket Association of Bengal’s curator Sujan Mukherjee, who is a former first-class player himself.
As Kolkata evenings get a lot of dew at this time of the year, that is also expected to play a role in the Test.
“Say from 6pm, the ground will start getting wet. Nobody knows how a wet, pink ball — which won’t be new if taken at the start of the day at 1pm — will behave,” said sources.