MUMBAI: The first day’s attendance Saturday of more than 53,000 for the second Ashes Test was an all-time record for cricket at the Adelaide Oval. That it is a day-night affair played with a pink ball is a good indicator of where the game is going. At least in the rest of the world, even if not in India YET.
Fun fact: The same stadium hosted the first ever day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand in 2015.
Now Cricket Australia is hoping Big Daddy BCCI will agree to let Virat Kohli’s team play under lights nect year in another blockbuster Test at Adelaide Oval, AAP reports.
India is scheduled to tour Australia for a four-Test series in 2018-19.
If the BCCI does give its nod, the pink ball’s transformation from novelty to normality would be complete.
Thus far though, the BCCI remains sceptical of the concept that is designed to improve crowd sizes and TV ratings for Tests.
As the newswire notes, the BCCI has twice backed away from hosting a day-night Test after declaring intentions to do so. It was in 2016 that the Indian cricket board first announced its intention to host New Zealand in a day-night Test but utimately backed away. Then earlier this year, it flagged an interest in hosting Australia in a day-night Test earlier but that too never got off the ground.
