Just when the world felt, Test Cricket is losing its mojo, International Cricket Council (ICC) rejuvenated the longer format by introducing Day-Night Tests. And after comprehensively winning the first Test against Sri Lanka, India have their goal set for the Day/Night pink ball Test which will start on March 12 (Saturday) at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Before that let’s pay a heed to how India have fared in their previous outings of Day/Night Tests. As of date, India have played as many as three Day-Night Tests in which they have managed to win two matches and have lost one.
India vs Bangladesh
India played their first-ever Day-Night Test against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens Kolkata back on November 22, 2019.
In a lop-sided match, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first. In the first innings, Bangladesh were all out for a paltry 106 runs. After this, India declared their innings for 347 and they went on to win the match by an innings and 46 runs. Coincidently that was the match where former Indian skipper Virat Kohli scored his last International ton (70th century). Since then the century drought is going on and King Kohli would be eager to break the shackles and scored one more ton in Day-Night Test.
Australia vs India
How can we forget India's horrendous 36 all out followed one of the best comebacks in the Border-Gavaskar series back in December 2020. India played their second Day/Night Test against the mighty Aussies at the Adelaide Oval where after having an edge after the first innings, India got bundled out for 36 runs in the second innings.
Pink ball and swing, that might have been the first time where India tasted the swing of the pink ball. Nevertheless, after a humiliating loss in the Adelaide Test India went on to rewrite the history after winning the Border-Gavaskar series.
India vs England
In the immediate aftermath of the Border-Gavaskar series, India came back home and were scheduled to play another Day/Night Test against England at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad back in February 2021. In this Test, the Indian innings was also reduced to just 145 after England were all out for 112 runs. After this, England’s second innings was also all out for 81 runs. From here, India won the Pink Ball Test by achieving the target of 49 runs without losing a wicket. In this match, Axar Patel was the ‘Player of the Match’, he took 11 wickets for 70 runs.
