Cannot afford to play as many shots with pink ball, says Kohli

As India's first-ever day-night Test edges closer, the excitement is increasing day by day. However, skipper Virat Kohli is aware of the challenge that awaits them and has said that batsmen cannot afford to play as many shots with the pink ball as compared to the red ball.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) tweeted a video in which all Indian cricketers can be seen talking about the upcoming day-night Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens.

"#TeamIndia's first taste of pink ball. Indian players share their first experience of playing with the pink ball at the nets and feel that fans will enjoy the new concept in India," BCCI tweeted.

 

In the video, Kohli said: "I think you need to be more compact early on, you cannot afford to play as many shots as you do with the red ball because it does quite a lot. Yes, it would be quite a Test".

Opening batsmen Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal also shared their experience of training with the pink ball.

"It is something unusual. It is not something with which we have played over the years. But I am excited and I am looking forward towards playing the match," Rohit said.

"It is a great initiative, the pink ball is new to all batsmen. It will be a challenge," Mayank Agarwal said.

Chesteshwar Pujara said that playing with the pink ball in the Duleep Trophy will help him.

"As you play more with the pink ball, you get used to the pace and bounce. It is slightly different, but since I have played with it in the Duleep Trophy, I know how it behaves," Pujara said.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja also shared their thoughts about the match.

"It will be very exciting as it is the first-ever day-night Test that will be played in India. We do not know how the ball will behave in the match, everything will happen for the first time," Jadeja said.

"I have not played with the pink ball before this. I am excited to see how it goes at the Eden Gardens. It is a historic ground and I am really looking forward to it," Ashwin said.

Before the start of the first Test at Indore, the Indian cricketers practised with the pink-ball to prepare for the day-night Test.

On October 29, it was announced that India and Bangladesh would play their first-ever day/night Test at Eden Gardens from November 22-26.

When BCCI president Sourav Ganguly was asked how long did it take to convince skipper Virat Kohli to play the day/night Test, he replied: ""I had met Virat on October 25th for an hour and my first question was, we need to have day-night Test cricket and the answer in three seconds was let's go ahead and do it. I found him absolutely acceptable to play day-night Test matches".