BCCI president Anurag Thakur, during a live chat during the day 1 of the final game of inaugural edition of pink ball Duleep Trophy said that BCCI is contemplating the use of the pink ball in the Ranji Trophy as well.
“We will experiment in the next few rounds of the domestic matches as well,” said Thakur during the live chat with Deep Dasgupta.
However, he clearly stated that BCCI is not in a hurry to implement use of pink ball and the experiment will only be done after taking feedback from players
“We are not in a hurry to implement the pink ball. If the experiment is successful, then yes, we can look into it.
Talking about Duleep Trophy final, he said: “This game, many players who play in the Test matches and the ODIs are participating. I will wait for the full report after the completion of the Duleep Trophy and we need to look at the various areas we need to improve before taking a final call if BCCI has to play day-night Test match in the future – what are the pros and cons of playing with the pink ball.” added Thakur.
Thakur’s comment has come after watching the huge success of Duleep trophy as earlier empty stands were the scenes in domestic competitions but a small alteration has made domestic cricket a huge success. These types of scenes were never scenes in past 50 years of domestic cricket as it was in 1970’s when people used to come to the ground to watch the domestic stars but now the pink ball has changed the fortune of domestic cricket.
Fans are mesmerised by the change in colour of the ball which has caused curiosity among them. They are coming to the ground in numbers to see how pink ball is different from red ball. The small experiment made by BCCI has worked quite well, taking a lesson from this the board is thinking experiment in Ranji trophy as well.
The 83rd edition of Ranji Trophy is set to begin from 6 October; there will be 8 group stage rounds followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and the Final. It will be interesting to see whether BCCI straightaway experiment this in the first round or will wait for half of the rounds to get over as this year the matches are to be played at neutral venues, so none of the teams will enjoy home advantage. Change in colour of ball and conditions will put extra pressure on players of both the teams.
Still, BCCI is yet to take a decision on this and we will have a clear idea about this when BCCI will prepare a report after taking consent of players.