Team India is no leaving stone unturned to be best prepared for the historic first-ever D/N Test in Kolkata against Bangladesh, starting November 22.
It is understood, the team management has requested the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) to organise for a few training sessions under lights in Indore, which hosts the series' first Test, a regular red-ball affair, from November 14.
Former MPCA secretary Milind Kanmadikar spoke to IANS and confirmed the association is more than happy to help the players adapt to the pink ball.
"We got a request from the Indian team that they want to train under lights with an eye on the pink ball Test, so we are going to arrange for the same," Kanmadikar said.
As many as five Indian Test cricketers practised with the pink ball at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) on Sunday (November 10). It is when the first batch of 60 pink SG balls was available.
The training session overseen by NCA head Rahul Dravid saw Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja practise hard before joining the national side in Indore.
Pujara, Agarwal and Hanuma Vihari featured in the Duleep Trophy 2016 experiment as well when the pink ball was first trialled in Indian domestic first-class cricket, although then the balls were imported by Kookaburra, not SG.
When the new BCCI president Sourav Ganguly was asked why the Kookaburra wasn't preferred for the Test in Eden Gardens as well, he said: "No, it can’t be (used) because the series has to be played with same ball. It can’t be two different balls in the same series."
(Inputs from IANS)
