Indore: Skipper Virat Kohli had his first experience of negotiating a pink ball as Indian cricketers took turns to get used to the new colour during the net session ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh, starting Thursday.
The Indian team did not train under the lights and the throwdowns with the SG pink ball was part of the traditional red-ball practice session. Usually, three adjacent nets are placed — for pacers, spinner and throwdowns — for Indian team’s practice. However, on team’s request, the throwdown-net was created on the other side of the ground on separate practice turfs with a black sight-screen. It was skipper Kohli, who first faced the pink ball. With throwdown specialists Raghavendra and Sri Lankan Nuwan Senaviratne hurling the pink stuff at express pace, the skipper looked comfortable. He looked more intent on playing defensive shots. Once Kohli was done and went into the main nets, the other top-order batsmen incuding Cheteshwar Pujara mixed and matched, facing red and pink ball simultaneously. Young reserve opener Shubman Gill seemed to have taken a hit when one of the deliveries bounced extra but it was not serious. The Indian team will get only two full training days ahead of their first day/night Test at the Eden Gardens, starting November 22. Aware that not much time is in hand, the BCCI had arranged a couple of pink ball sessions under lights for the Test specialists like Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal, Pujara, Mohammed Shami at the NCA under Rahul Dravid’s guidance.
The pink ball is going to be a very “different ball game”, India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane asserted on Tuesday, saying its extra lateral movement compared to the red cherry will force batsmen to play late and closer to their bodies. Rahane, along with Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja, had a couple of practice sessions with the pink ball under the watchful eyes of National Cricket Academy (NCA) Director Rahul Dravid in Bengaluru building up to the historic Day/Night Test against Bangladesh starting November 22. “We had two good practice sessions, actually four but two with pink ball — one during the day and one under lights. It was actually exciting,” Rahane said ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh starting on Thursday. “For me, it was the first time I played with the pink ball and definitely it’s a different ball game as compared to red ball. Our focus was to look into the swing and seam movement and also play close to our body,” Virat Kohli’s deputy observed. Rahane’s assessment after his initial sessions was that the batsmen will have to tweak their technique slightly. “What we found out after the practice session was that the (new) pink ball does a lot more than the red ball. You have to play slightly late and close to your body. We had a word with Rahul bhai as he was also there.” During the couple of Duleep Trophy seasons with the pink ball, there were complaints about spinners going out of equation.
“I think they played with the Kookaburra ball in Duleep trophy, that’s a different thing. With the SG ball, I am not so sure. We played against spinners in Bangalore and they were getting good revs (revolutions) on the ball. Yes, the shine is completely different to red ball but it’s very hard to compare with SG ball and the kookaburra ball,” he explained. Rahane conceded that he is starting afresh with no reference point. (PTI)
