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India set to host day-night Test against New Zealand

by Manuj Sharma Thursday 21 April 2016

New Zealand already have the experience of playing with the pink ball during their day-night encounter against Australia in 2015.

©REUTERS / Action Images

The secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Anurag Thakur confirmed that a day-night Test will be played when India host New Zealand in October this year.

New Zealand will tour India to play three Test matches and five One-Day Internationals between October and early November.

Earlier in January, the BCCI had announced that the Duleep Trophy, a regional domestic tournament, will be played in the day-night conditions with the pink ball.

The Duleep Trophy is a first-class tournament in India played between the five regional teams, who represent each of the five geographic zones of the country, namely East, West, North, South and Central.

Thakur also announced that the Duleep Trophy will act as a practice for the Indian cricketers to acclimatise themselves to the playing conditions, prior to the day-night Test against New Zealand.

“We have decided that we will play one Day/Night Test match with pink ball against New Zealand later this year.

“Before that Duleep Trophy will act as a dress rehearsal for the Day/Night Test match.”

Day-night games in many parts of India are usually affected by the dew factor which makes it tough for the bowlers to grip the ball properly.

However, Thakur said that once the Duleep Trophy is completed, the BCCI will have a better understanding in order to pick the right venue for the day-night Test.

“While we have not zeroed in on the venue, there are lots of factors that need to be taken into account.

“Things like dew factor, how the spinners bowl with the pink kookaburra on Indian pitches.

“These things we will get an idea during the Duleep Trophy.”

Traditionally, Test matches in India are played with the SG Ball but Thakur said that the pink kookaburra balls will be used for the day-night Test.

Thakur also hinted that in the future, the BCCI will ask the manufacturer of the SG ball to produce pink balls on the lines of the kookaburra ball.

“We may ask ‘SG’ to manufacture pink balls later but that has to be of the quality of pink balls that ‘kookaburra’ produces.”

New Zealand and Australia were the first teams to be involved in a day-night Test match when they faced off at the Adelaide Oval in November 2015, bringing in record number of crowd to the stadium.