India agree to play day-night Test during Australia tour

The BCCI has given its approval to play a day-night Test match in Australia during their tour down under in 2020-21. The decision was made during the BCCI’s Apex Council meeting in Delhi. In the same meeting, it was also agreed that the newly refurbished Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad will likely host a pink-ball Test between India and England during the five-match series in January-February 2021.

The meeting was attended by President Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah, who had a major role in the decision. The day-night Test against Australia will likely be held in either Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide. The BCCI has also decided to cash-in on the hype surrounding the Motera Stadium by allotting it a marquee match against England. The stadium is all set to become the biggest in world cricket with a capacity of around 110,000 when it will be inaugurated by US President Donald Trump on February 24th.

Shift in stance

India had earlier rejected a proposal to play a day-night Test in Australia during their tour of 2018-19. But there has been a visible shift in their stance since Ganguly was appointed the BCCI President. One of the first tasks which Ganguly undertook was to host the first pink-ball Test in India. Eden Gardens in Kolkata hosted the match, where India comfortably beat visitors Bangladesh. The match was positively received by the spectators, with large crowds turning up to witness the historic event.

Indian captain Virat Kohli also gave a positive feedback, saying:

“We played the day-night Test [against Bangladesh] here, we were pretty happy with how it went. It’s become a very exciting feature of any Test series and we’re open to playing day-night Tests. We’re ready and up for the challenge – whether it’s Gabba, Perth… it doesn’t matter to us, we have the skillsets as a team now to compete against anyone in the world, anywhere, in any format of the game, whether it’s white ball, red ball or pink ball, we’re ready to play anything.”

The two high-profile assignments against Australia and England will be India’s last in the ICC World Test Championship. They sit comfortably on top of the standings, with a perfect tally of 360 points in 7 matches. The top two will contest the final at the historic Lord’s Stadium in 2021.