IND v BAN 2019: Harbhajan Singh bets on wrist spinners doing well in upcoming day-night Test

India and Bangladesh to play the first ever day-night Test between them on November 22 in Kolkata.

Harbhajan Singh felt wrist spinners will find it easy to ball with pink ball | The Hindu

As India and Bangladesh train hard for the upcoming day-night Test match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on November 22, India spinner Harbhajan Singh has come up with his opinion as to which spinners might impress the most.

Wrist spinners will have one advantage if you see because it’s going to be very difficult to pick the seam (with black stitches) of the pink ball,” Harbhajan said.

Well, that’s the team management’s call and I can’t comment. But then Bangladesh needs to play the Indian pacers on the seamer-friendly track before spinners are fully operational. And also, between 3.30 and 4.30 pm, the time of sunset in Kolkata where seamers are known to do maximum damage. But yes, we need to figure out more about spinners if we want to play more D/N Tests in future,” Harbhajan who has over 400 Test and 250 ODI wickets to his name, said.

Kuldeep Yadav has played with pink ball under lights during 2016 Duleep TrophyHarbhajan Singh also reminded everyone how deadly Kuldeep Yadav was with the pink ball during the 2016 Duleep Trophy tournament. “If you remember Duleep Trophy, no one could effectively read Kuldeep from his wrists. Leg spinners got a lot of wickets during that edition. When a finger spinner bowls, the ball is released with the seam so that there is turn and bounce. When you are bowling the googly, the seam will be scrambled and very difficult to pick,” he said.

He felt that the SG pink ball with more lacquer will make it hard for spinners to hold and the ball with skid on the surface. Harbhajan also explained the basic difference between bowling with white and pink balls under wet conditions.

He said, “A lot of people think that the ball will be like a slippery soap bar as it happens with the white ball in D/N games. It’s not the same. The white ball becomes slippery because the white lacquer goes off the skin of the ball gets wet. “With extra lacquer, pink ball’s skin won’t get wet but the stitches will be very soggy. And therein lies problem with finger spinners.”

He also said that BCCI needs to make the national players play a couple of rounds of matches in Ranji Trophy and bring the pink ball back in Duleep Trophy. “If BCCI creates a window so that all top national players are available for a couple of specific rounds in Ranji Trophy, then you can learn more. Even Duleep can go back to the pink ball but only if stars play. With no disrespect to any player, if top players don’t play here, the purpose is lost and no advantage gained while playing next pink Test,” he concluded.

(PTI inputs)

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 19 Nov, 2019

    Share Via