Day-night Test cricket evokes two very different kind of reactions. For the fans, it is a moment to celebrate. Heck, the administrators are going all in. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is personally overseeing everything at Eden Gardens. So if you’re loving the pretty pink balloon hovering over the ground, you know who to @.For the players themselves, it seems a little like stepping into the utterly unknown. A lot of people are saying a lot of things and all of it is about the way the pink ball will behave. Sachin Tendulkar says dew will affect it massively. Virat Kohli doesn’t know what will happen when the shine goes off. R Ashwin is already preparing to go big with his arm balls because it may not turn enough. Bangladesh’s batsmen, meanwhile, devoted a part of their training session to just watch the shiny little thing as it goes past them.
The funny thing is day-night Test cricket has been around for four years now. Practically every other team has been part of the revolution. So there is information out there.
In Indore, Bangladesh were way off the pace. In Kolkata, they need to make the most of every opportunity. The top order, which couldn’t handle the red ball, has to find a way to negotiate the pink one even though it swings way more. It’s the only way they’ll have set batsmen at the crease when it stops moving around. Because that might be the best time for Bangladesh to take advantage of the whole day-night situation – India would usually turn to their spinners at this point in a regular day Test, but if Ashwin’s suspicions are correct, not to mention Tendulkar’s warning about the dew, a very potent bowling attack with the old ball might end up short on answers.
The only problem is it’s hard to picture all of India’s bowlers suddenly being negated just because of a change of ball. You’d think Ishant Sharma is too experienced not to adapt. You’d think Mohammed Shami will just bowl full and fast and straight and break every set of stumps in front of him. You’d think Ashwin will beat the batsman in the air if he can’t do them off the pitch.
Virat Kohli has contingencies galore and an opposition already under the pump. If India get it right despite the unfamiliar playing conditions, this might not be pretty.
Cricket Guru Sahil 