BCCI should play day-night test cricket

The Background

In April 2016, former BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, announced that India will try a day-night test against the Touring New Zealand side in the test series later that year. It had to be first trialled at the Duleep Trophy of that year. In November 2015, Australia had hosted New Zealand for the inaugural day-night test and while the test ended in three days, the quality of cricket and the novelty factor attracted huge crowds. It was supposed to be an exciting time for Indian Cricket. However in September 2016, just before the start of the bumper Indian season of 13 tests, Mr. Thakur announced that India will not host a day-night test as a lot of factors had to be taken into account, and Indian players needed to get used to it in domestic cricket, for it to be feasible. The Duleep trophy that year had elicited mixed responses. This is what Mr. Thakur said at the time:

"It is too early to say anything [about pink ball]. As far as trying it in Duleep Trophy under lights is concerned, it was a big success. But you need to look at overall picture before you take the final call.

I think we need to look into many areas before we take the final call. I would like to go into details in a scientific manner to take the final call. As of now, we are not ready to implement pink ball this season."

There has not been talk of pink ball test ever since.

Why BCCI is not keen on day-night Tests

India has always been last in embracing any kind of novelty in recent years in cricket. Be it the DRS system, or playing their first International T20. And while they did create the IPL, frankly speaking, it is not a novel factor as much as it is a smartly-adapted-to-local-needs version of the English Premier League. Each major test playing nation has so far played at least one test under the lights. India needs test cricket to survive. India is the biggest contributor to the image of the game worldwide. At a time when it needs to pioneer the major reforms in the game, the BCCI is content to just flow with the time, hiding behind excuses. The excuses are that of the right conditions, the durability of the Kukaboora pink ball, the reaction of the people and most of all, the say the cricketers have. For India's upcoming tour of Australia later this year, Cricket Australia tried hard to convince the BCCI to play a day-night test at Adelaide. The BCCI refused to play, after it received comments from players and head coach Ravi Shastri that India is not ready to play, since this is the first time they have a real chance of winning a test series against what would be a weakened Australian team, without David Warner and Steve Smith. According to the Indian think tank, Australia still possess a fine pace attack, comprising Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, and that it does not want to be tested. While that is something that can be debated, the more pressing need is for the Indian board to organise pink ball tests in India.

What BCCI needs to do

The alarming drop in the number of spectators for test matches in the country is something the board needs to take a look at more seriously than ever before. The abysmal crowd for the test match against Afghanistan was sort of expected, but even during the last test series against big-ticket teams England and Australia did not attract huge crowds. The health of Test Cricket in India is in a very bad shape. The BCCI and the CoA, which is heading the BCCI, has to bring all stakeholders on board and think of some creative ideas to be able to implement it. Proper and regular trialing of the pink ball should be done in domestic cricket. The ball's durability should not be doubted, now that it has been played in most of the major countries. the recent West Indies v Sri Lanka pink ball test at Barbados was exciting and proved that most pink ball tests would provide close results, simply because the conditions alter and they test batsmen at crucial times during the match. In fact Indian fast bowler Mohammed Shami in a four-day inter-club match between Mohun Bagan and Bhowanipur Club, organized by the Cricket Association of Bengal. He was quite impressed by the pink ball and backed the idea:

"I would prefer playing with the pink ball in comparison to the red ball. It's a great invention and I hope it prospers," Shami said after the match.

"Here we have two sessions under lights and just one in daylight and as a bowler I would enjoy that. I believe players and the audience would love it.

"If it remains dry, there is a chance of getting reverse (swing)," the 25-year-old pacer said.

The BCCI needs to take some time out of their preference for the money minting formats of limited overs cricket and pay more focus on Test cricket. Otherwise soon we might see Test Cricket dead in India.