CHENNAI: Virat kohli and Co might practise with pink ball under lights at Holkar Stadium in Indore ahead of their first day-night Test at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on November 22. The first Test between India and Bangladesh starts in Indore on November 14.
“A request for a practice session under lights has been made by the management. It’s not clear whether they will use pink balls or not. The Bangladesh team has not made any such request yet,” said a source privy to developments.
The Kolkata match will be the maiden DN Test for both India and Bangladesh. The teams were apprehensive in the beginning when the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly floated the idea. The players and support staff cited lack of practice with pinks balls as reason, but the former India skipper managed to convince them, thus paving way for the first ever DN Test in the country.
BCCI had asked the manufacturer SG to supply six dozen pink balls for the Kolkata Test. The consignment will be sent on Saturday. “Balls will be sent tomorrow. BCCI will confirm tomorrow where it wants the delivery. Most probably, it’ll be delivered to the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai,” Paras Anand, SG sales and marketing director, told this daily.
Holkar Stadium has eight practice nets, four on either side of the central square. The venue also has practice nets outside the ground but those cannot be used at night. “The schedule we’ve received does not have a mention of a practice session at night. Both teams will reach Indore on November 11. They have a practice session each in the morning and afternoon and vice-versa on November 12 and 13,” said Sanjeev Rao, Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) secretary.
“We can provide them the facility to practise at night but for that to happen, the teams have to make an official request as a lot of things have to be taken care of, including deployment of traffic cops for hassle-free movement of the teams at night,” added Rao, a former Madhya Pradesh skipper in Ranji Trophy.
If the Indore Test stretches out for five days, the teams will get only a couple of days to practise with the pink ball, if they do not train with them before the first match. A clear picture, however, is expected to emerge once the balls are delivered to the BCCI and the teams reach Indore after the third T20I in Nagpur.