Indian captain Virat Kohli faced Mohammed Shami during the twilight period, on Wednesday, to prepare for India’s first pink-ball Test to be played at the Eden Gardens from Friday.
Team India had a full-fledged training session under the lights with pink balls as they gear up for the historic occasion which will mark the debut of India in cricket’s latest format.
Prep for the #PinkBallTest underway💪
#TeamIndia #INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/VWg7PQGsnQ— BCCI (@BCCI) November 20, 2019
However, some players like Shami and Cheteshwar Pujara have some prior experience of playing with the pink ball in the Duleep Trophy. They believe that the ball swings more than its red counterpart.
Even Kohli, after his practice session with the pink ball in Indore, had echoed the same. He further suggested that if the pitch provides the right kind of assistance bowlers could dominate.
“The pink ball I have played yesterday, I think it swings a lot more compare to the red ball because there’s extra lacquer on the ball and doesn’t go away too fast and the seam holds upright quite a bit,” the 31-year-old was quoted by NDTV.
“If the pitch has enough for the bowler then the bowlers will be in the game, especially the fast bowlers,” he added.
Pujara, on the other hand, emphasized his experience of playing with the pink ball in domestic games and said it would be interesting to play in international now. He also talked about the challenges that the players are likely to face.
“During the day, there would be no concerns regarding the visibility of the pink ball. In my opinion, the twilight period would be really challenging as to how one sights the ball. When I talked to other players, they told me picking the ball out of wrist spinners was a challenge,” Pujara was seen saying in a video on BCCI.TV.
Ravichandran Ashwin, after his first practice session with the pink ball said the same and suggested that sighting the ball during the twilight period could be a challenge as the crimson hue of the sky and the pink colour of the ball makes it look more like orange.
“The ball has a lot more lacquer. I haven’t even bowled a single ball with the pink ball. Obviously I just saw it. Sometimes I don’t understand if its orange or pink, still coming to terms with that,” Ashwin had said.