Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir, on Friday, hoped that Bangladesh would be able to give some competition to India when both the teams take to the Eden Gardens for the historic pink-ball Test match.
Ever since it was announced that the second Test of the two-match series would be a Day-Night affair, there has been a lot of fuss and excitement around the match.
Also, the way the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) went about their preparations to make it a grand occasion has kept the fans on the edge of their excitement level.
Gambhir, too, echoed the same and said, “There is a lot of excitement for the day-night Test. The good part is it is happening for the first time in India. It will be interesting to see how the SG pink ball behaves. I hope it will be a good game and Bangladesh would be able to compete.”
Speaking about the challenges that the players could face while playing with the pink ball, Gambhir said the batsmen might face some challenges initially but after setting their eyes it will get easier. However, he believed that the bowlers will not face any extra challenge.
“You won’t get an experience of pink-ball unless you play with it. It is a matter of about 15-20 minutes while you are batting then you get used to it. In bowling, it will not bring any change. There can be issues while fielding in catching the ball. The biggest factor will be the dew and how they handle it,” the 38-year-old was quoted as saying to ANI.
The Indian team have decided to go with an unchanged eleven which have five bowlers, whereas Bangladesh have introduced two changes into their squad which played the first Test in Indore.
The visitors’ captain Mominul Haque won the toss and decided to bat first. But the Indian bowlers have proven the decision wrong from the word go and had the touring batsmen on their toe.
At Tea, Bangladesh were down to 73/6.