Anurag Thakur rules out pink-ball Test this home season

Pink ball will not be used in Test cricket this home season, said BCCI president Anurag Thakur on Monday. With this statement, Thakur put to rest speculation on India hosting its first ever day-night Test in the long home season comprising 13 Tests which will go up to February-March.

He feels more experiments like the one in Duleep Trophy are needed before BCCI takes the final call on introducing the pink ball in Tests which has already been done by Australia.

“It is too early to say anything (about the ball). As far as trying it in Duleep Trophy under lights is concerned, it was a big success. But you need to look at the overall picture before you take a final call,” said Thakur.

“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,” he said, adding, “As of now, we are not ready to implement pink ball this season.”

The pink ball was expected to be used in the ongoing Test series with New Zealand but the decision was put off amid speculation that it could be done in the upcoming home series against England and Australia. The home team are also scheduled to play a one-off Test against Bangladesh.

The cricket board chief explained why more time is needed before usinng the coloured ball.

“I think we need to take a final call after keeping a few things in mind. First, how to make it more interesting (for fans) and result-oriented. If you have matches like the one in Kanpur (which lasted five days), well done.

“Then we don’t need to do anything. Second, how do you involve more fans who come to the ground or watch it on TV Third, you really need to look into areas as to how (the pink ball) is impacting Test cricket at a time when enough people are not coming to watch Test cricket. What are the real reasons behind it One more factor to be considered, he said, is the role of the pink ball or red ball in terms of seam, shine, turn, swing and late swing.

“With the red ball, you can have reverse swing after 20-25 overs, but with pink you can’t. So the challenge for batsman goes away,” Thakur said.

Though Duleep Trophy with the pink ball was a success, it attracted mixed response from the current and former players. There was no reverse swing on offer in the recently-held tournament as the ball held its shine for longer periods and vicious turn was also not on offer.

Sachin Tendulkar has also said that playing Tests with pink balls was not a good idea.