India To Make Pink-Ball Test Debut Against Bangladesh At Eden Gardens
Oct 29, 2019 at 7:35 PM
India and Bangladesh will make their day/night Test debuts next month as the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has accepted The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) proposal to play a pink-ball Test. The historic Test match will be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata – the venue which hosted India’s first-ever pink-ball match. The final of CAB Super League 2016 was played with a pink ball and was also a televised affair.
In 2016/17 domestic season, BCCI staged Duleep Trophy with pink ball and continued the tradition for next two seasons. The 2019/20 season saw Duleep trophy going back to same the format and matches were played with red ball in the day time.
However, with Sourav Ganguly taking over as BCCI’s President, it was expected that India would play a pink-ball Test later than sooner. He consulted Indian skipper Virat Kohli recently and later sent a proposal to BCB, which agreed to it.
India had earlier turned down Cricket Australia’s proposal to play a pink-ball Test in Adelaide in 2018/19. As per reports, one of India’s Test against West Indies last year could have also been played with a pink ball but the idea did not materialise. Bangladesh had also turned down New Zealand’s offer regarding the same.
The historic event will see Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina witness the occasion as she has accepted the invitation regarding attending the match. The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has also invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he is also expected to attend the match.
The second Test of the series will be played from November 22 to 26.
Bangladesh will kick off the tour of India with the first T20I on November 3 in Delhi. The second and third T20I will be played on November 7 and 10 in Rajkot and Nagpur, respectively. Following the T20Is, India will play the first Test in Indore from November 14.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh will miss out on the services of their Test and T20I captain Shakib Al Hasan. He has been banned for two years by ICC but will be able to make his comeback on October 29 next year.