Kohli takes the Shami challenge

Kolkata, November 20

For Bangladesh, facing Mohammed Shami with the pink ball in the Day/Night Test is being touted as their greatest challenge. India captain Virat Kohli took up this challenge, facing a lot of deliveries from Shami in the twilight period — when sunlight fades away and the floodlights take over —  during training today.

With the historic Day/Night Test match less than 48 hours away, Kohli practised batting today as dusk set, with the floodlights in full glow at Eden Gardens. The ace batsman faced Shami, who has been in red-hot form, at a stretch for a considerable amount of time and was seen talking to him at length.

Team India trained under lights for a couple of hours. Over the last few days, getting used to the twilight period has been the focus, and cricketers who have played with the pink ball have confirmed it’s a huge challenge. India stayed back in Indore to have full-fledged training under lights after the first Test, which India won inside three days.

Cheteshwar Pujara said sighting the pink ball at twilight is a challenge as the crimson hue of the sky makes the pink ball look more orange than pink. “Sometimes I don’t understand if its orange or pink, still coming to terms with that,” off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had said. 

Exciting time

Former New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori, now the Bangladesh spin bowling coach, stressed that the twilight period would be the most exciting part of the Test. “The challenge will be how much of the Test match is under lights. The sun sets quite early here,” he said. “That will be the time we will see the pink ball come into play. My experiences are only from watching on TV. So the twilight hours, dusk seems to do a little bit more. So I think that’s going to be the exciting period of the Test match. That will be the period where tactically teams might try out a few different things.” — TNS, agencies

Twilight zone

Cheteshwar Pujara said sighting the pink ball at twilight is a challenge as the crimson hue of the sky makes the pink ball look more orange than pink 

The challenge will be how much of the Test match is under lights. The sun sets quite early here. That will be the time we will see the pink ball come into play. My experiences are only from watching on TV. So the twilight hours, dusk seems to do a little bit more — Daniel Vettori, Bangladesh spin bowling coach 

Pink or Orange?

Sometimes I don’t understand if its orange or pink, still coming to terms with that — Ravichandran Ashwin, Indian off-spinner 

Background

In white-ball cricket, we have black background and the feel remains the same even after it (ball) gets old. But here we have to see the backdrop. If it’s not clear, it will be challenging for the wicketkeeper as well — Wriddhiman Saha, India wicketkeeper