Clockwise: Eden Gardens cricket stadium in Kolkata decked up for the first day-night Test match between India and Bangladesh, fans of India and Bangladesh wave their national flags during a practice session on Thursday, and the pink ball which will be used for the match — Internet photos Despite being humiliated in the first match in Indore, Bangladesh dare to create a history when they play their maiden day-night Test against India in the City of Joy- Kolkata, beginning today (Friday).
It is the first-ever pink-ball Test of the subcontinent.
Bangladesh, which lost the Indore Test by an innings and 130-run margin inside just three days, still oozed with confidence, vastly due to the fact that the pink-ball cricket remains an unknown territory for both of the sides.
The match will be played from 1:30 pm to 8:30 pm (BdST), avoiding the worst of the dew that hits the region in winter months.
The Indian Army paratroopers will descend to hand over pink balls to India captain Virat Kohli and his counterpart Mominul Haque just before the toss.
This will be followed by the ringing of the customary Eden Bell by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Sourav Ganguly, the newly-appointed president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), had to work hard to convince both teams to play under floodlights but he has now arranged a grand spectacle at Kolkata's Eden Gardens.
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), the organising institute, also put their best foot forward to turn this pink-ball Test into a mega-spectacle to the world.
"We have many programmes on the first day of the Kolkata Test, including para-trooping by the Indian Army, who will land the match venue to hand over the balls to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee and the captains of both teams. During the lunch break, the organisers will arrange a talk-show to be participated by Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble," Sourav told the media.
"After that, the former Indian captains will be introduced at the game venue. At the same time, the cricket fans will enjoy the musical show of Runa Laila and Jeet Ganguly," he further added.
A notable part of Kolkata turned into a pink city, pink lights were lit here and there, top 13 floors of a 42-storied building were turned into a pink-building.
The madness of the pink-ball Test reached that level that people at the tea stalls are also talking about it for the few days.
Day-night Tests, aimed at increasing crowds and TV audiences for the five-day games, were successfully introduced in 2015 but India has balked at joining the party. BCCI has kept away from day-night Tests since the first pink ball game in Adelaide between Australia and New Zealand in 2015. It refused to play a Test under lights in Australia last year.
England, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies have all played at least one day-night Test but the BCCI, by far the richest and most powerful board in world cricket, dodged it, reportedly due to a negative player feedback.
So far, 11 day-night Tests have been played worldwide since Australia and New Zealand played the first-ever pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval in November 2015.
City landmarks are being illuminated in pink to mark the occasion, and a ball-shaped pink blimp hovers over the 67,000-capacity stadium. "I don't remember similar excitement in any Test in India in the last 20 years," cricket historian Boria Majumdar told Reuters.
Approximately 5000 Bangladeshi fans will cheer Mominul and his men as they seek to bounce back from defeat inside three days in the series opener in Indore.
"Test cricket needs to be more competitive. At the same time, if you want to bring crowd back into test cricket, pink-ball is an excellent idea," Mominul said ahead of what would be Bangladesh's maiden day-night test as well.
Together all these, Kolkata is now a festive mood. The hosts' team is eager to make this occasion memorable more to the people of India. On the hand, Bangladesh are keen to pose a strong comeback after the dismal show in the first Test.
Squads: Bangladesh: Mominul Haque (capt), Liton Das (wk), Mehidy Hasan, Nayeem Hasan, Al-Amin Hossain, Ebadot Hossain, Mossadek Hossain, Shadman Islam, Taijul Islam, Abu Jayed, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mustafizur Rahman.
India: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hanuma Vihari, Kuldeep Yadav and Shubman Gill.
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