At the same time the city of joy – Kolkata has been painted pink to mark the historic event. The enthusiasm is on cloud nine; even Indian skipper Virat Kohli compared the upcoming face-off to World T20 clash against Pakistan in 2016.
“We were excited about the pink-ball Test. Such big buzz for a match at Eden was created when we played against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup in 2016. In that match also, big players came to see it and in this day-night match also felicitation and all is planned. A big crowd will give a boost to all players. People will enjoy the spectacle. We are lucky that we will be playing India's first-ever day-night Test,” Kohli said at the pre-match presser.
Kohli spoke about the challenges they going to face under lights and one of them is the dew factor.
“I think in India we have one big factor which is the dew. It will be considered throughout the match, you never know when the dew will come in. It is a big factor when you play a day-night Test in India. Invariably I think, the pink ball will tend to do a lot more in foreign conditions as compared to India,” he added.
Pink ball Tests should not be the only way five-day cricket is played, feels India captain Virat Kohli.
“This should not become the only way Test cricket is played. Then, you are losing out on that nervousness of the first session in the morning. You can bring excitement into Test cricket but you can't purely make Test cricket based on just entertainment,” Kohli said.
“The entertainment of Test cricket lies in a batsman trying to survive a session, a bowler trying to set up a batsman out. If people don't want to respond to that, that's too bad. If I don't like Test cricket, you can't push me to like it,” he added.
India defeated Bangladesh in the first Test by an innings and 130 runs to consolidate their position at the top of World Test Championship (WTC) standings. The side currently has 300 points from six matches and they face Bangladesh in the day-night Test at Eden Gardens, Kolkata from November 22.