India will play a day-night Test during their much-anticipated tour of Australia later this year, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said on Sunday.
This comes a month after captain Virat Kohli asserted that his team was ready to play a day-night Test anywhere in Australia.
“Yes, India will play a Day/Night Test in Australia. A formal announcement will be made soon,” BCCI president Sourav Ganguly told PTI .
Ganguly, a former captain, also said that the second Test of the next home series against England will be a day-night affair. He added that the Board will try to have at least one day-night Test in each series moving forward.
India played their maiden day-night Test against Bangladesh last November at the Eden Gardens, winning the match quite comfortably with plenty of time to spare.
On the eve of India’s three-match ODI series opener at home against Australia last month, Kohli had said, “We’re ready and up for the challenge — whether it’s Gabba, Perth... it doesn’t matter to us. It’s become a very exciting feature of any Test series and we’re open to playing day-night Tests.”
After India’s mauling of Bangladesh in their maiden day-night Test outing in Kolkata, Ganguly had said that they “will deal as per the request” of the host Board when on tour.
India declined Australia’s offer to play a day-night Test in Adelaide in 2018-19, citing lack of experience.
However, with day-night match seen as a possible answer to Test cricket’s dwindling attendances, Australia had been hoping that India will agree to play one game at the Gabba this year.
A Cricket Australia (CA) delegation met top BCCI officials on the sidelines of a limited-overs series in January with the day-night Test figuring on the agenda.
Meanwhile, it is also learnt that India is set to play three ODIs and three T20 Internationals in Sri Lanka after the IPL.
