India's first day-night test preparation in Eden, curator revealed

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Sujan Mukherjee, curator of the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata, believes that the ground is all set for the first day-night Test match between India and Bangladesh starting on Friday.

Sujan Mukherjee, curator of the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata, believes that the ground is all set for the first day-night Test match between India and Bangladesh starting on Friday. This will be the second and final Test match of the series between the two teams. Mukherjee is confident that there will be a good match between the two teams in this ground and the audience will get to see good cricket.

Mukherjee said, ‘The rain last week had spoiled it to some extent. But thankfully we still had enough time and now things (weather) are normal. Pitch is in good condition. It is ready and has been so for the last few years. Eden Gardens will provide a good pitch to cricket and I will try my best for it.

India won the first Test by an innings and 130 runs in Indore to take a 1-0 lead in the series and all eyes are on the second Test match in which India is going to play Test match day and night for the first time. The pink balls have reached the Eden Gardens several days ago for the day-night Test match and Mukherjee hoped that it would be tested on the pitch.

Asked if you have tested it, he said, ‘I have not done this till now. I will in the next few days. But it will not make much difference. The pitch behavior here will be the same as in other Test matches.

Test match under floodlight for the first time in India

For the first time in India, a test match will now be played with a pink ball in a floodlight. This will be India’s first day-night test match. Also, it will be the first day-night test played in India. The Indian team, however, was not ready for the day-night Test match. Former captain of the Indian cricket team, Sourav Ganguly, after assuming the post of BCCI president, had convinced captain Virat Kohli to play the day-night Test.

After this, the ball went to BCB’s court. The BCB also accepted the proposal of the BCCI. Ganguly has always advocated pink-ball cricket. When he was a member of the technical committee in 2016-17, he recommended the use of the pink ball in domestic cricket. Ganguly advocated a day-night match at the same time. Ganguly is of the view that Test cricket will get more and more viewers from day tonight.

Day-night test match record

Total played day-night test matches: 11

– First Day-Night Test Match: Australia vs New Zealand – Adelaide 27-29 November 2015 (New Zealand lost by three wickets)

– Australia (5 Day-Night Test matches), Pakistan / West Indies / Sri Lanka / England (3-3 Day-Night Test matches), New Zealand / South Africa (2-2 Day-Night Test matches), Zimbabwe (1 Day-Night Test match)

– Day-Night Test matches played in Australia (5), Day-Night Test matches played in UAE (2), Day-Night Test matches played in West Indies / New Zealand / South Africa / England (1)

India, Bangladesh, Ireland, and Afghanistan have not played day-night Test matches yet