India’s tour of Australia later this year has once again grabbed the headlines as Cricket Australia (CA) are yet to receive BCCI’s approval concerning the hosting of day-night Test in Adelaide.
Given the fact that pink ball Test has proved to be the revelation in Australian summer ever since the inaugural fixture against New Zealand in November 2015, CA are quite keen to take it to the next level. Apart from the high quality of cricket, the day-night Test has managed to attract the crowd and strong television ratings.
As per the reports in Cricbuzz, the unveiling of Australia's 2018-19 season was expected in February but it got delayed due to the uncertainty over the proposed day-night fixture in Adelaide. It is worth mentioning here that Australia's 2017-18 season was unveiled in December 2016.
"We are currently finalising the detail of these tours with respective member boards. Scheduling of any sport has its complexities, with a number of parties that need to be consulted throughout the process," a CA spokesperson quoted as saying by Cricbuzz with regards to the 2018-19 season.
Among all the major Test playing nations, India are the only country not to have featured in a day-night Test. On the other hand, Australia have won all four of their pink ball games. No wonder, the world No.1 Test side are a bit hesitant to play the day-night fixture in a crucial series.
However, it is learnt that India could make play their maiden day-night Test in October against the West Indies at home.
Earlier last month, the BCCI officials had carried out a meeting to discuss the various venues for India’s home matches in the forthcoming season. Subsequently, the BCCI acting Secretary Amitabh Choudhary had stated that the prospect of day-night Test cricket in India was also considered in the meeting, but the eventual decision concerning it will be taken after getting the approval from Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA).
“The committee considered the proposal of converting 1 of the 2 Test matches into a day-night Test match. We considered the viewpoint of all the stakeholders and the view was unanimous on favoring this experiment. However, the decision was not taken today. The only decision taken today was to send recommendations to the COA. The day-night Test match will happen only when CoA approves,” Amitabh Choudhary had quoted as saying by ANI on March 17, 2018.
