India vs Bangladesh: ‘Need to practice more before playing next pink ball Test’ - Cheteshwar Pujara | Cricket - Hindustan Times
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India vs Bangladesh: ‘Need to practice more before playing next pink ball Test’ - Cheteshwar Pujara

Hindustan Times, Kolkata | ByAritra Mukherjee
Nov 24, 2019 08:54 AM IST

Asked whether they would want to play a practice match before their next pink ball assignment, Pujara said it was a practically a bit difficult to do that in the middle of a tour.

India’s No. 3 Cheteshwar Pujara said the Indian cricketers need to play more under lights if they intend to play a Day/Night Test abroad in the future. India are playing their first ever Day/Night Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and despite being in complete control, Pujara felt the need of ‘getting used’ to the pink ball before setting sight for a similar Test in Australia, South Africa or England. “It is BCCI’s decision to make. But going forward, if we are going to play more pink ball games we will have to practice more under lights and start getting used to this,” Pujara said after the close of play on Day 2.

Indian bowler Umesh Yadav celebrates with his teammate C Pujara.(PTI)
Indian bowler Umesh Yadav celebrates with his teammate C Pujara.(PTI)

Asked whether they would want to play a practice match before their next pink ball assignment, Pujara said it was a practically a bit difficult to do that in the middle of a tour and they would rather play a red ball practice match simply because it will be the norm.

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“If we are playing away from home, you don’t have much time as you play only one of the four matches with pink ball. You don’t want to have a practice game with the pink ball. You would rather have it with the red ball. You never play a practice game in between the series so I don’t think it’s practical,” said Pujara.

India looked set to wrap up the second Test and complete sweep after Bangladesh were reduced to 152 for 6 at stumps on Day 2, still trailing India by 89 runs. The Indian bowlers once again gave the visitors a hard time as a number of their batters received body blows for the second day in a row. Pujara however, put it down to the visibility factor more than the inability of Bangladesh batters.

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“I thought light and pink ball had a role to play. As a batsman, it is not easy to pick short balls. The pace our fast bowlers have, it is not easy. Their batters haven’t even played any first class match with the pink ball so it’s not easy,” he said.

Pujara, who batted under lights on Friday and scored a half-century, said it was definitely difficult to bat after sunset. “Batting under lights was difficult when I batted yesterday. Even when I saw on TV, the first session is easier to bat as there is no lights. When there is lights, the ball starts swinging a little more. So it is a bit more challenging. The kind of experience we have, most of the Tests we played are under sunlight. So when it comes to playing under lights it is challenging for the batsman,” Pujara added.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Aritra Mukherjee, who happens to be a journalist, is in an eternal relationship with food and sleep. He can, however, sacrifice both or at least the latter for his love-affair with cricket. 'He said,' 'he added,' 'he signed off' are some of his favourite phrases. When not juggling between food, sleep and cricket, he wastes time by surfing OTT platforms.

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