Day-night Test: As usual, India arrive late to the Pink ball party
India vs Bangladesh: Ahead of India's 1st ever Day-night Test in Kolkata, here's a look at how the powerhouse of world cricket reacted to some of the biggest innovations in world cricket over the last few decades.
HIGHLIGHTS
India vs Bangladesh: Ahead of India's 1st ever Day-night Test in Kolkata, here's a look at how the powerhouse of world cricket reacted to some of the biggest innovations in world cricket over the last few decades.
HIGHLIGHTS
- India will become the 9th Test-playing nation to make Pink ball debut
- India had been saying no to Pink ball cricket for close to 4 years
- India were reluctant to take up ODI and T20I cricket as well
The 1st ever Day-night Test was played as early as 2015. Ever since, 8 Test-playing nations have had a taste of Pink-ball cricket with Australia leading the charge by featuring in 5 of the 11 matches so far.
After saying 'no' to what is being seen as one of the most important innovations in modern-day cricket for nearly 4 years, India are gearing up to play their 1st ever Day-night Test from Friday in Kolkata.
Eden Gardens will be hosting Bangladesh who are also gearing up to play a Test match under light for the 1st time. India had been reluctant to be a part of the Pink ball experiment.
Talks of the BCCI hosting New Zealand for a Day-night Test as early as 2016 surfaced but nothing came into fruition until Sourav Ganguly took over as the head of the world's richest cricket body.
Sourav Ganguly had played a big role in infusing Pink ball cricket into the system. Under his tenure as Cricket Association of Bengal President, the 1st ever Pink ball match was played in India -- Bengal Super League final in 2016.
A big believer in the future of Pink ball cricket, Ganguly advocated the usage of pink balls in Duleep Trophy tournaments during his tenure as a Cricket Advisory Committee member. The Duleep Trophy was played with the Pink ball for 3 seasons from 2016 before it went back to red ball earlier this year.
'Selfish' India say no to Adelaide fixture
India have turned down quite a few requests from the likes of Australia and South Africa to feature in Pink ball Tests.
When reports of India's willingness to host a Day-night Test against West Indies in 2018 emerged, Australia media was going gaga over the possibility of India featuring in the annual Adelaide Pink ball fixture.
Much to the disappointment of the cricket fraternity, India said no to both the Day-night Tests.
The chief of the now-defunct Committee of Administrators (CoA), Vinod Rai backed the board's decision to not feature in the Adelaide Day-night Test, saying the players weren't ready for Day-night Tests then.
More importantly, India were also looking to win their 1st ever Test series in Australia in 2018-19 and the uncertainties over the Pink ball made India's resistance stronger.
Former Australian cricket Mark Waugh had even called India's reluctance to play Day-night Test in Adelaide a 'selfish' move. "It's a little bit selfish from India's point of view because we need to revitalise Test cricket," Waugh had said.
The phenomenal U-turns in Indian cricket
When the much-anticipated announcement came last month from the new BCCI president, Ganguly said it took only 3 seconds to convince the India captain to agree to play the 1st ever Day-night Test.
It is safe to say that India, despite being a powerhouse in world cricket, have always had their reservations about adapting to newer innovations in the sport.
India played their 1st ever ODI in 1974 but it was evident that the Asian giants did not buy into the phenomenon of limited-overs cricket. No Indian featured in Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.
In fact, India sent a team to Australia in 1977-78 to provide competition to the WSC, according to cricket writer Gideon Haigh.
Speaking at a promotional event last year, one of India's most celebrated opener Kris Srikanth said the 1983 World Cup in England was initially supposed to be a stopover for a few in the team who had planned holidays in the US.
However, Kapil Dev's team that won the 1983 World Cup, defeating the all-powerful Clive Llyod's West Indies side changed the future of limited-over cricket in India. In fact, it was India that hosted the next edition of the 50-over Cricket World Cup in 1987.
Cut to the early 2000s, India once did not buy into the concept of T20I cricket. While the likes of Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa headed into the inaugural edition of T20 World Cup in 2007 with a few matches under their belt, India went in with just the experience of having played 1 T20I in 2006.
It was no secret that India's Big 3 -- Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid -- decided not to go to South Africa for World T20 in 2007. MS Dhoni was appointed captain of the World T20-bound team that had many new faces.
The then BCCI president Sharad Pawar, in fact, saw T20I cricket as a format that dilutes international cricket. Niranjan Shah, former BCCI secretary's reaction to the concept of T20 cricket, mirrored India's outlook before the World T20.
"Twenty20? Why not Ten-10 or Five-5 or One-1?"
Incidentally, India went on to win the 2007 World T20 and the T20 revolution in the country began. The Indian Premier League (IPL) was kickstarted in 2008 and 10 years later a major chunk of the BCCI's revenue came from the T20 league. Shah would go on to become vice-chairman of IPL, India the powerhouse of domestic T20 competition via IPL.
The future of Day-night Tests involving India will largely depend on their Eden Gardens experience. With captain Virat Kohli already talking about the prospect of a Pink ball Test in Australia next year, once can only hope the powerhouse of world cricket starts loving the concept that has been successful in bringing back crowds to the stadiums.
