Eden Garden Is Set To Welcome New Trend In Indian Test Cricket
Mumbai: After Australia, England, Pakistan, South Africa, and Windies India will host its first pink ball Day-Night test match. As previously mentioned, tickets for the first four days of the Day-Night test at Eden Garden have already been sold.
The question arises why the pink ball is being used for Day/Night test matches and its answer is, In case of Day/Night Tests, because the natural light fades away and artificial lights come in effect a pink colored ball is used. This is because a red ball takes on a brownish color under yellow floodlights making it difficult to spot the ball against the color of the pitch. The pink balls have better visibility and also deteriorate more slowly making it suitable for Test cricket.
Indian players do not have experience of playing with the pink ball but from the current squad, Mohammed Shami and Wriddhiman Saha featured in the Super League final. Cheteshwar Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Rishabh Pant and Kuldeep Yadav have played first-class day-night cricket before.
While the pitch of Kolkata has live grass on it, it will certainly help fast bowlers to swing the ball. Especially in the phase of sunset i.e, from 6-8 fast bowlers will be seen to dominate the game. I think all three fast bowlers will be playing this match. Its also been said that Pink ball will not do reverse swing.
As it has been said that wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav has experience of using the pink ball and he had success in the Duleep trophy. Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh made the remark that leg spinner can do better than finger spinner with the pink ball, speculations are being made that Kuldeep could play the match.
But India couldn’t drop Ashwin as he is the primary spinner when it comes to testing matches especially in India. That means Jadeja could be dropped but if we will have a close look on his recent test record we will find he has done well with the bat in recent times and has played a proper role of all-rounder for the team. And also by dropping Jadeja, the Indian tail gets expanded which means India will play with 5 proper bowlers by dropping an all-rounder. It would be surprising to me if India drops Jadeja. The Indian batting side doesn’t require any change.
The match will start at 1.00 PM IST and end by 8.00 PM to counter the dew. The first interval will be at 3:00 PM IST and the second session will resume at 3:40 PM IST. Tea will be taken at 5.40 PM with a 20-minute break and the final session is scheduled to start at 6:00 PM IST.
With winter setting in Kolkata, there will be dew on the ground. The ball gets heavier and slippery, making batting easier. Countering dew will be one of the challenges for the team bowling in the evening.
Indian Probable XI: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami & Ishant Sharma.
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