A bemused India captain Virat Kohli sought to arrange the jigsaw puzzle posed by the pink ball as his team prepared for the inaugural day-night Test in the country.
Kohli wondered why the Board of Control for Cricket in India had hastened into the act without arranging a practice match ahead of the historic event.
Excited, but
“We were definitely excited about playing a pink-ball Test. But I would ideally liked to have had a practice game under lights before the pink-ball Test,” Kohli said, hinting at the plausible discomfort he is having in leading his men to uncharted shores.
“You can’t just, you know, two days before you get on a plane, say we are going to play a pink-ball Test in a week’s time. We didn’t think it was logical from that point of view. It needed a bit of preparation and once you get the hang of it, there is no problem at all,” Kohli reasoned.
“We just felt that (the decision to play the first day-night Test) was more of a spontaneous plan rather than it being thought out over a period of time,” the India captain said.
Delving into specific areas of concern, Kohli said the pink ball tends to behave differently because of the extra coat of lacquer on it.
“If you haven’t played with the pink ball before, it is going to be challenging throughout the game. It will require more concentration, solid technique, a more compact game compared to the red ball… And not having great visibility or the ability to pick that colour, makes it even more difficult,” Kohli said.
“Your idea of off-stump, I think that is going to be most crucial. Even yesterday when we practised, it felt like the ball was closer to you when it actually was not. So, I think, one will have to be careful about that channel,” he said.
Also while fielding, one doesn’t know how far the ball was and it would hit the hand very quickly. “I think the extra glaze on the ball makes it travel faster and it hits the hand very hard as well,” he said, with a chuckle.
Prefers tradition
About the pink ball taking preference over the red cherry eventually, Kohli seemed more inclined towards tradition.
“In my opinion, this should not become the only way Test cricket is played. You can bring excitement into Test cricket, but you can’t make Test cricket based on entertaining people.
“The entertainment of Test cricket lies in the fact that the batsman is trying to survive, the bowlers trying to set up a batsman; if people don’t respond to it that’s too bad,” Kohli said.
