India Is Spicing Up For The Historic Pink Ball Test

With just two days left, Indians are eagerly looking forward to SG Pink ball and the preparations for India’s first-ever day-night test match is on a fast-pace, making it look very special. Also, the BCCI on Wednesday gave a sneak peek of the same. The match will be played against Bangladesh on Nov 22 at the Eden Gardens stadium, West Bengal.

BCCI has unveiled a 17-second clip on Twitter showing the Eden Gardens being lit up and decked up in the pink colour entirely. “Kolkata gearing up for the #PinkBallTest,” BCCI captioned the post. The pink ball is exciting cricketgoers and the reason for using it is – a usual red ball takes on a brownish colour under yellow floodlights in the night, making it difficult to spot the ball. The pink balls have better visibility and also deteriorate more slowly making it suitable for Test cricket. BCCI has ordered SG to deliver 72 pink balls for the match.

India, in the first Test at Indore won over Bangladesh by an innings and 130 runs and now, for the historic match, all the available tickets have been sold for the first four days. It is expected more than 45,000 people are expected to witness the historic moment. Also, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly confirmed that the match will kickstart with Army paratroopers flying into the Eden Gardens to hand over a pink ball each to the two captains just before the toss.

And, during the 40-minute meal break, Cricket Association Bengal has organised a talk show featuring the ‘Fabulous Five’ of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman, looking forward to speaking on the epic 2001 Test win against Australia with a tint of nostalgia.

Later, CAB is planning to felicitate prominent Indian sports stars like Tendulkar, Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, Sania Mirza, PV Sindhu and six-time boxing world champion MC Mary Kom and a few others. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will also be present at Eden Gardens to witness the historic match, apart from sport personalities.