Revealed: Why Are Pink Balls Used Instead Of Red Ones In Day-night Tests?

The entire nation is desperately waiting for the upcoming day-night Test between India and Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens this week. The Test will kickstart both the countries’ journey in day-night Test. No surprises then that the fans as well as players and others are pretty much excited for the Test. The fans will get the taste of the pink ball for the first time in a Test match.

The entire nation has only seen Test matches being played with red-ball and are now in for a big surprise. Unsurprisingly, there is an air of confusion all around over why the organisers had to change the colour of the ball for the day-night Tests. The change in ball was one of the reasons why India were initially hesitant to play day-night Tests.

#EdenGardens Spicing up for Pink Ball Test.#CAB pic.twitter.com/x2iGYoyLAc

— CABCricket (@CabCricket) November 17, 2019

Reasons behind choosing pink ball over red ball:

Perhaps the biggest reason behind choosing the pink ball is visibility. A pink ball would be easier for the players to watch under lights rather than the red-ball. The makers wanted a colour which would be visible at night and one that would last the test of 80 overs. They tried the red-ball at first but the outcome was not promising. They then tried the white ball but it did not last long.

And thus the makers came up with mixture of the two colours – pink. The new ball, meanwhile, did not start its journey on an expected note as it showed a lot of movement. The first ever day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand ended inside 3 days with none of the sides crossing the 250-run mark.

With the passage of time, the players have done well but the pink ball has continued to swing for long hours. The reason behind it can be the shine. While the shine on a new red ball lasts for roughly around 60-70 minutes, the shine lasts more than a session on a pink ball. Thus it becomes easier for the bowlers to extract swing.

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