Adelaide to Kolkata: How pink-ball Tests have travelled across the globe
Day-night Test: Kolkata will become the 8th city to host a pink-ball Test match. India and Bangladesh will meet in their 1st ever day-night Test from November 22.
In Short
- India will host their 1st ever Day-Night Test in Kolkata
- Kolkata will become only 8th city to host a day-night Test
- The 1st ever day-night Test was played in Adelaide in 2015
India will create history on November 22 as they will host their 1st ever day-night Test. It will also be the Asian giant's 1st taste of top-flight pink-ball cricket as they take on Bangladesh at the iconic Eden Gardens.
The 1st ever day-night Test was played in Adelaide between Australia and New Zealand as early as 2015. It has taken 4 years for India to get a taste of cricket's biggest innovation of the decade. It's better late than never!
India and Bangladesh will become only the 9th and 10th teams in international cricket to play a day-night Test. The upcoming fixture will only be the 12th day-night Test to have ever played.
While India had been firm in their stance, citing lack of exposure to pink-ball cricket, things changed days after Sourav Ganguly took over as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Sourav Ganguly said it didn't take too long to get captain Virat Kohli's nod for organising the day-night Test in their 1st ever meeting after he took over the top job at BCCI.
The preparations for the day-night Test are now going on in full swing. The historic match will kickstart with Army paratroopers flying into the Eden Gardens to hand over a pink ball each to the two captains just before the toss.
This will be followed by the ringing of the customary Eden Bell by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The CAB will also feilcitate a galaxy of Indian sports stars including Tendulkar, Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, tennis star Sania Mirza, world badminton champion PV Sindhu and six-time boxing world champion MC Mary Kom among others.
Specially designed mementos will be given to the dignitaries while they will also make round of the stadium aboard golf carts, CAB secretary Avishek Dalmiya said.
The CAB will also felicitate the team members of Bangladesh-India first-ever Test in 2000, a game where Ganguly made his debut as Test captain.