Published: Jun 18, 2016, 12:10 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 18, 2016, 12:24 PM (IST)
The Day 1 of the first-ever pink match is set to be played on Saturday between Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) clubs Mohun Bagan and Bhowanipore club at Eden Gardens. It is the final match of Bengal’s Super league. It is a four-day match. The match is scheduled to begin at 2.30pm (IST) and will continue under lights with pink Kookaburra balls. The live action of India’ debut pink ball match can be caught on Star Sports 2. New Zealand and Australia played the first-ever day-night Test with pink ball in 2015 at Adelaide. That match earned tremendous success, which is why Sourav Ganguly has left no stone unturned to make India’s first pink ball multi-day game possible. READ: India’s opinion on day-night cricket, pink balls crucial
This match will give an idea about what can be expected of a pink kookaburra under lights in sub-continental conditions. If Ganguly’s experiment ends up on the successful side, the chances of holding a day-night Test later in the year will increase for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The spotlight will be on India pace spearhead and Mohun Bagan’s Shami, who will be the first in the team to have a ‘feel’ of the pink Kookaburra ahead of the proposed first day-night Test against New Zealand in October. Not to forget Saha, who will face the challenge of keeping wickets as well as batting against pink kookaburra under possibly under floodlights. While Shami will in a pink ball match for the very first time, Saha already has an experience. Saha had kept against pink balls, green balls during that A series in Australia back in 2009-10. Cricket Australia used those balls during the List A matches on experimental basis.
