NEW DELHI: Eden Gardens could become the venue for India’s first day-night Test should the Bangladesh Cricket Board accept the request made by the Big Daddy of international cricket.
BCB on Sunday confirmed that the BCCI has requested them to play a day-night Test during the upcoming India tour and has said they will respond after consulting their players and team management.
Freshly minted BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had recently said that skipper Virat Kohli was not averse to the idea of playing a pink-ball Test.
While the proposal has been pushed by Ganguly, the move marks a u-turn from the position the the Indian cricket board had taken in December 2018 when Cricket Australia had proposed a pink ball Test in Adelaide. At the time the BCCI had argued (correctly) that their players would be at a disadvantage as they needed to have practiced for a long period to be able to adjust to the different conditions.
Coincidentally, Bangladesh too have held that opinion, turning down New Zealand’s similar such proposal due to lack of match preparation in the D/N Test format.
If the BCB comes on board with the idea (and one can’t see them refusing the BCCI since it “shows world cricket the money”), there is a very valid argument that neither side can claim the advantage of familiarity with the conditions in pink ball Test cricket.
BCB’s cricket operations chairman Akram Khan said the BCCI communicated the request a few days back.
“They have proposed (to) us and we will let them know after thinking a while. We received the letter two or three days (ago) and we will take a decision in this regard. We have not discussed about it. We will let them know about our decision within one or two days,” Khan was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said they want all stakeholders on board. “At first we have to take the consent of the players and members of the team managements about it. It is totally a technical matter [playing day-night Test from skill perspective] and we have to consider that there is preparation required to play a Test with a pink ball,” Chouwdhury said.
If BCB replies positively, the second Test at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens would most likely host the Day/Night Test, beginning from November 22.
Bangladesh’s tour will begin with a three-match Twenty20 series, starting November 3 at New Delh.
The first Test is scheduled to be held at Indore from November 14.
