A week after the BCCI’s tour, programme and fixtures (TPF) committee decided to stage India’s first day-night Test in Rajkot, the CoA has kept its decision on the Test pending until there is clarity on certain aspects of the day-night game.
The CoA has told BCCI’s acting secretary, Amitabh Choudhary, that everybody would have to assess the (1) match playing specifications (2) playing conditions of the ICC as mentioned by GM cricket operations, Saba Karim, in the meeting and put up to COA for consideration with all relevant facts.
The TPF’s decision was taken at a meeting here and Choudhary, had sent the full home international programme for 2018-19 to CoA’s head Vinod Rai for approval.
The TPF Committee chose Rajkot as the venue after Choudhary obtained India head coach Ravi Shastri’s views in February.
In a note to Shastri, Choudhary said, “It would be opportune to convert one of the games (against the West Indies) into a day-night one as long as the dew factor in Indian conditions could be taken care of, and your suggestion was to have just one of the three sessions spilling over beyond natural light necessitating a start around 12.30 p.m. rather than later.’’
Shastri in turn told Choudhary
, “as far as day night cricket goes, it can be tried out as an experiment with a game starting at 12 (noon) and where the last session is played under lights. It will be interesting to see how much part dew will play.
“Again against a team like the West Indies it has to be played in a tier 2 city without a doubt. To get in the crowds it doesn’t matter if it’s a day game or day night game. What’s important is a Tier 2 city.”
This exchange of views has been passed on to BCCI acting president C.K. Khanna and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, CoA members Rai and Diana Edulji, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and Karim.
