Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina excited for Pink ball cricket as Duleep Trophy 2016-17 gets underway

Yuvraj's team will go head to head against Raina's team on August 23 in the opener as a new restructured Duleep Trophy gets underway.

Ahead of the first Pink ball day-night First-class match in India, India ‘Red’ skipper Yuvraj Singh and India ‘Green’ skipper Suresh Raina addressed the media at the Shahid Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. When asked about the expectations from the Pink ball, and the hype around it, Yuvraj said, “It is an exciting prospect, it’s new, we are also new to it. We saw in Adelaide between Australia and New Zealand, where the ball was swinging. We’ll have to see what happens.” Yuvraj’s team will go head to head against Raina’s team on August 23 in the opener as a new restructured Duleep Trophy gets underway. READ: Duleep Trophy 2016 schedule, squads, venue

Raina, who has earlier played a four-Day Ranji match at the venue was then asked what are his expectations from the pitch on offer, and for the new challenge in front of him with the Pink ball. He said, “It’s a different challenge. Earlier the first session started early in the morning, which was critical, as the bowlers got the ball to move around, now since it is a 2 PM start, the second and third sessions will be important as well. We might see a bit of reverse swing as well.”

Narendra Hirwani, India Red’s coach for the Duleep Trophy, was then asked his opinion on the hype that’s building around the concept of Pink ball cricket. He said, “For me, it’s too early to say anything right now. We will have to see a few matches, only then we can have a say, or draw any conclusions.”

Yuvraj and his team reached the stadium for their practice session at around 1 PM and after sweating it out, the left-hander then addressed the media. Raina’s men however, reached at around 3 PM and practiced for the next few hours.

Meanwhile, the Duleep trophy 2016-17 will also see Gautam Gambhir’s India ‘Blue’ team in action. The schedule for the Duleep Trophy is as follows:

Squads

India Green – Robin Uthappa, Jalaj Saxena, Ambati Rayudu, Ian Dev Singh, Rohan Prem, Suresh Raina(c), Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Ashok Dinda, Sandeep Sharma, Ankit Rajpoot, Rajat Paliwal, Jasprit Bumrah, Murali Vijay

India Red – Abhinav Mukund, Srikar Bharat, Sudip Chatterjee, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Yuvraj Singh(c), Ankush Bains, Arun Karthik, Akshay Wakhare, Kuldeep Yadav, Nathu Singh, Anureet Singh, Ishwar Pandey, Nitish Rana, Murugan Ashwin, Abhimanyu Mithun

India Blue – Gautam Gambhir(c), Mayank Agarwal, Sheldon Jackson, Baba Aparajith, Siddhesh Lad, Dinesh Karthik, Parvez Rasool, Karaparambil Monish, Krishna Das, Suryakumar Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Pankaj Singh, Shardul Thakur, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari

About the Author