BCCI would like to complete the experimental Duleep Trophy before the home Test series against New Zealand begins. The tournament, which was scrapped by the board last year to concentrate more on Twenty20 cricket, has been revived this year after it was decided that pink ball would be used in this tournament with a new four-team format, instead of five zonal teams.
Not only that, BCCI is also expecting top Indian cricketers to take part in the tournament to help assess the pink ball’s viability in the day-night affair, after they return from the West Indies tour which gets over on August 22.
As the cricket enthusiasts are excited to welcome the new innovation, several cricketers also getting ready to taste this beautiful game under a whole new, different look, as they also look to prepare in time, understand it, and adapt to changes and new challenge as soon as possible.
Piyush Chawla, captain of Central Zone for the 2014-15 winning season, said to bcci.tv: “It is obviously going to be something new and exciting for us. It is much talked about these days. It will be a different experience for the players and so I am looking forward to it. From whatever I have seen and heard the ball [stays] is quite shiny and glossy for long, so it could be a little difficult for the spinners, But we will have to find something [a way] to get something out of this ball as well [to be effective].”
Meanwhile, Manoj Tiwary, Bengal Ranji Trophy captain, is eager to start the domestic season. “It is going to be a great opportunity and a big challenge as well because a pink ball does a lot of things [movement], especially under lights it swings a lot, seams a lot. Hence, as batsmen, we have to make sure that we are improving our skills. To really go against a moving ball you need your basics right and your technique up to the mark to improve chances of scoring good amount of runs in such conditions.”
“Also, you have to have a lot of patience. Nowadays most of us, we tend to play on the rise, play through the line as we know that the pitch is not going to do much; it is going to be at knee height bounce. Those kinds of shots won’t be easy under lights with the pink ball. So these are the challenges we have to face as a batsman and we have to be prepared for it,” Tiwary further said.
Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel too, excited about the prospect of a new adventure. “It will be a new challenge for all of us to play under lights in a four-day game with the pink ball. I don’t think any of us have played before. Having seen one of the games, the [pink] ball does swing slightly more than the normal one so we will have to make sure that we are well prepared for the condition,” he said.
“What I have seen or heard is that they have said that the pitch is required to be slightly greener than the normal one so that the ball stays well throughout the day and night, but something which we will have to tackle is the swing which is more than what usually we do get with the SG ball. So we will have to work on that, try and be more defensive [as batsmen] or try and see off the swing whenever that happens,” he added. “I have been around for lot of the years; with every new challenge there is something which motivates you, and gets the best out of you so I am looking forward to this Duleep Trophy,” he was quoted.
Meanwhile, with the BCCI still being confused about the venues for this tournament, there is still no such clarity on which zone will actually organize the event. It was also learnt that the board is trying to shortlist at least two venues for the event. If the tournament is played on knockout basis, it would still take almost 13 days to complete.
While BCCI wants to host Duleep Trophy to continue experimenting on the pink ball, question mark looms large over the future of the tournament.