The Eden Gardens (Kolkata) is getting ready for the historic day-night Test match between India and Bangladesh. Former Indian captain MS Dhoni can present during this special Test match. Moreover, he can also play a special role during this Test match and this role is – commentator.
After becoming the BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly has played a massive role in planning for India’s first-ever pink ball day-night Test match. Bangladesh have agreed to play one day-night Test match during the upcoming two-match Test series against the hosts India.
Holkar Stadium (Indore) will host the first Test of this series between 14th and 18th November 2019. They will play the last Test of the series at Eden Gardens (Kolkata) from 22nd to 26th November 2019. The BCCI has decided that the upcoming Kolkata Test will run as the day-night Test match. It will be the first day-night Test match in India as well as it will be the first day-night Test both for India and Bangladesh.
Now, the host broadcaster Star Sports is planning to make this historic Test match more memorable. The broadcaster is planning to invite the former Indian captains during that Test match. The former captains will follow the national anthem together with the Indian players. Later, they will present in the commentary room where they will recall their favourite moments from India’s Test history. The BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has also accepted this plan.
According to IANS, Star Sports’ plan is, “Invite India Test captains for Day 1 & 2 of the Test. All captains at the ground along with (Virat) Kohli and the rest of the team as well as the dignitaries line up for the anthem. Captains appear on commentary as guests through the day to re-collect their favourite moments from India’s Test history. Down memory lane segments recorded with individual captains are played on the big screen at the ground in breaks Day 4 onwards.”
Fans can see MS Dhoni in the commentary box
So, there is a big possibility that the former Indian captain MS Dhoni will present in this Test match. Also, we can see him in the commentary box during this Test match.
Under MS Dhoni’s captaincy, India won the ICC World T20 2007 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. MS Dhoni was also a successful Test captain. Since the ICC officially began ranking teams in 2003, Dhoni was the first Indian captain who took his team on the top position of the Test rankings. India maintained that top position for 21 consecutive months. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, India won 27 matches out of 60 Tests, which was a record by an Indian captain at that time. Recently, Virat Kohli broke this record.
Since the heartbreaking semi-final of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, MS Dhoni hasn’t played a cricket match yet. The Indian cricket fans are badly missing the wicketkeeper-batsman on the cricket field. Though Dhoni already retired from Test cricket at the end of 2014, he still plays a massive role in limited-overs cricket as an experienced wicketkeeper-batsman.
Recently, on day four of the Ranchi Test match between India and South Africa, Dhoni was present in the Indian dressing room.
Star Sports has more plans
Coming back to the new plan of Star Sports, the Indian cricket heroes can also recall their memory of 2001 Kolkata Test victory.
The plan is, “V.V.S. Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid re-live the Test match (2001). Segments aired on the big screen.”
Star Sports is also planning to provide the live coverage of the practice session.
Their further plans are, “Free entry to watch India practice on Friday (B & L block). Live coverage of the practice session on Star. Crowd interaction with legends. Crowd interactions with select India players (at the end of the session),”