As the popularity of test cricket saw a gradual decline with the emergence of T20 cricket, serious measures were required to be taken to revive the longest format of the game.
It was not that Test Cricket had lost people”s love. Just that people were not able to watch Test because of their crazy schedules at the office. T20 cricket being a night game and a 3 hour affair served people”s menu.
It was then the ICC came up with this idea of Day night test cricket where people would be able to attend a Test match after their work. It was quite a success when Australia and New Zealand played the first ever Day Night test match at the Adelaide Oval in November 2015.
The pink ball experiment in India took some time coming. It was only in June 2016 that the first recognized match at club level was played with Pink ball. It was the final of Super League in Bengal hosted by Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) between Mohun Bagan and Bhawanipore Club at the Eden Gardens. It was reported that India will host it”s first day night test match against New Zealand at Eden Gardens in October 2016 but the plan was scrapped and it was a normal red-ball affair.
BCCI carried out Pink ball experiment in Duleep Trophy 2016 hosted in Greater Noida as well.
A year later the women cricketers too would have the first taste of the pink ball at the Women’s Pro Cricket League (WPCL) starts in Mysuru from June 12.
Five cricketers viz Rakshitha Krishnappa, Sanjana Batni, Prathyusha Challuru, Sahana Pawar, Vanitha VR and Akanksha Kohli have taken the initiative to promote women”s cricket in the state of Karnataka and organising WPCL is the first step. The league will see 8 teams fighting it out to be the champion.
The event is going to be played for five days and the final will be played on 16 June. Gangotri and JC Grounds are allotted in Mysurum
“The teams are divided into two groups with 4 teams each. Each team gets to play 3 league matches each day,” Vanitha, an India international, told Sportstar on Thursday.
The league has got green signal from Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).
“We didn’t want any disruption, so we have addressed all the issues. We have a few sponsors who have come forward to support this mega event and we are very thankful to them,” Vanitha said.
The Indian team is leaving for England on 11 June to prepare for Women”s World Cup which gets underway on 24th June.
“Even though there are many tournaments for the men cricketers, there are not many opportunities for us. This event aims to develop the cricketing scene. This is for the first time the women cricketers will play in pink ball, so it is a new thing. We decided to do this tournament a few weeks back,” VR Vanitha said
– by Atharva Apte