IND v BAN 2019: Dean Jones gives crucial advice on how to counter 'dew factor' in Kolkata day-night Test

India are going to play their first-ever Day/Night Test in Kolkata later this November.

Eden Gardens to hots fist-ever Day/Night Test in India | AFP

As India prepares for the historic first-ever Day/Night Test match against Bangladesh to be held at Eden Gardens later this November, Dean Jones, On Friday (November 1), suggested the organizers change the pink ball if it gets wet to counter the 'dew factor' in Kolkata.

While the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has already ordered 72 SG pink balls for the landmark game, Indians are yet to play with the ball and it will be certainly a big challenge for the side to produce a perfect ball under lights for the Kolkata Test between India and Bangladesh.

There are a lot of talks that the Kolkata Test being a challenge, while the experts have already predicted that dew will play a big role in the first-ever day-night Test in India, to be played from 22 November but the former Australian batsman and cricketer pundit Jones has a simple theory to counter the challenges.

Read Also: Mohammad Shami, Wriddhiman Saha share their experiences of the pink ball ahead of day/night Test

Jones told PTI over the phone from Australia, “It (the Day-Night Test) is a great initiative. The dew factor is a concern, there is no doubt about that. If the ball is wet, just change it.”

He continued, “The laws of the game have changed. For example, in (Sir Don) Bradman's time, if the team made 200 runs, they got a second new ball. We are playing a night game, if the ball gets wet, just change the ball, it is as simple as that as far as I am concerned.”

In the T20 era, playing the longest format of the game under lights can be helpful in reviving Test cricket and Jones said: “I know that Sourav Ganguly (BCCI president) is a huge fan of night cricket, of Test cricket. Pink Ball cricket is huge and (it is) the future of the game because people's lives have been busy.”

The Aussie further added, “The ratings in Australia are massive and I cannot tell you how big it is compared to all the Test matches. People just find it very hard to watch Test cricket during the day because they are too busy.”

Recalling the days when he played against the yellow ball in five first-class games in Australia, but he did not have a problem with the new ball, saying it was all about just "adapting".

Jones signed off by saying, “But the pink ball does move around and there is no doubt about that. It is just a matter of just getting used to it (the pink ball), adapting and moving on. That is what you should do in Test cricket.”

(With PTI Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 02 Nov, 2019

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