Pink ball makes first-class debut in India

NEW DELHI: India’s Duleep Trophy domestic championship began staging its first match under floodlights Tuesday, experimenting with a pink ball in a likely precursor to the advent of day-night Tests in cricket’s biggest market.

Organisers of the Duleep Trophy, a four-day triangular tournament which traditionally heralds the start of the Indian cricket season, are hoping to attract bigger crowds by playing until around 9pm.

But the first match on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi is also being closely watched by India’s cricket board, which is widely expected to push ahead with plans for a day-night Test if the experiment succeeds.

The first-ever day-night Test match, which saw Australia beat New Zealand by three wickets in Adelaide last November, got mixed reviews from players and commentators.

But players taking part in Tuesday’s match, between teams that have been rebranded India Red and India Green, were excited at the prospect of the longest format of the game also being played after dark in India.

“I think it is pretty exciting and something to look forward to,” said veteran all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who has enjoyed great success for the national team under lights in ODI and T20 cricket.

“The New Zealand-Australia Test match I saw was pretty exciting. The ball was swinging a bit much. It will be challenging if it swings a lot, playing under lights,” added Singh, who is captaining India Red.