Playing red, thinking pink

Indore, November 12 

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 a 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 the team’s request, the throwdown-net was created on the other side of the ground 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 ball 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, including Cheteshwar Pujara, mixed and matched, facing red and pink balls simultaneously. 

The Indian team will get only two full training days ahead of their first Day/Night Test at the Eden Gardens from November 22. Aware that not much time is in hand, the BCCI had arranged a couple of pink-ball sessions for the Test specialists at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru under director Rahul Dravid’s guidance. 

Does more than red ball, need to play late: Rahane

The pink ball is going to be a very “different ball game”, India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane asserted today, saying its extra lateral movement compared to the red ball will force batsmen to play late and closer to their bodies.

Rahane, along with Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja, had a couple of practice sessions with the pink ball. “We had two good practice sessions — one during the day and one under lights. It was actually exciting,” Rahane said. “It was the first time I played with the pink ball. Our focus was to look into the swing and seam movement and also play close to our body. 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 (Dravid) as he was also there,” Rahane said. — PTI