A new ball game

The overall quality of cricket has to improve - too many uneven duels have blighted the romance of Test match cricket

Rarely has a Test match at home been promoted as aggressively as the one between India and Bangladesh in Kolkata. In a pure cricketing sense, the contest appears to be a gross mismatch — the beleaguered visitors squaring up against an Indian side that in recent times has acquired the aura of a relentless winning machine. Yet, despite the lopsidedness of it all, the occasion is enormously significant: It is, after all, the first time India is playing a day-night Test match.

Until recently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was opposed to the very idea of