After trouncing Bangladesh by an innings and 130 runs in Indore Test, hosts India are leaving no stone unturned to prepare hard for their maiden Day-Night Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. It will be for the first time that India will play a day-night Test in their cricketing history and that too will need to face up to the challenge of playing with the pink ball in testing conditions.

Apart from Indian skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma who were notable absentees from  the net session, the seam trio of Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav were also given a much required break after their stellar performance in the first Test.

Meanwhile, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja sweated it out in a long training session against the pink ball while Rishabh Pant, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav also tested their batting skills in the nets.


The support staff, comprising head coach Ravi Shastri, batting coach Vikram Rathour and fielding coach R Sridhar, were present at the stadium as the seven players went about their paces.

The Countdown for India’s first-ever Day Night Test began on Sunday with the City of Joy turning pink and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly unveiling ‘Pinku-Tinku’, the much-awaited event’s official mascots.

Ganguly was seen posing with the match ticket and the mascots at the Eden Gardens, making it a big hit among kids ahead of the historic Test against Bangladesh.

The Kolkata test will also be a kind of a landmark ocassion in the cricketing ties of India and Bangladesh as for the first time the sub continent nations will be locking horns at the iconic Eden Gardens venue. Newly appointed BCCI President Sourav Ganguly is making all possible efforts to make the Test a memorable ocassions by inviting the heads of states and other luminaries.