Day/Night Test: Indian pacers shine with pink ball, dismantle B'desh top-order

India’s menacing pace attack of Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami ace the pink ball game as they dismantled Bangladesh’s top-order in the maiden Day/Night Test match at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Friday (November 22).

Bowlers dished out a splendid performance to reduce Bangladesh to 73 for 6 at lunch.

At the break, Nayeem Hasan (0) and Abu Jayed (0) were at the crease after Liton Das (24) was retired hurt on the last ball of the first session.

Sharma made history by dismissing Bangladesh’s Imrul Kayes (4 off 15) to record the first wicket for the hosts with the pink ball, however, Yadav took three wickets and Shami recorded one.

The show-stopper of the first 20 overs was wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha who caught two of the most crucial catches of opener Shadman Islam for 29 on Yadav’s bowling and dismissed Mahmudullah for six bowled by Sharma.

Yadav dismissed captain Momunil Haque and Mohammad Mithun for a duck before getting Shadman’s wicket.

Shami sent Bangladesh’s most precious player Mushfiqur Rahim back to the dressing room for a duck in the first innings on day one of the first pink-ball Test.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat in the pink ball terrain, unexplored for both the teams.

Skipper Virat Kohli did not make any changes to the squad that won the opening Test in Indore, however, Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque replaced replace Taijul Islam, Mehidy Hasan with Al-Amin Hossain and Naeem Hasan.

Fans have responded enthusiastically with the first four days of the game sold out for the pink ball Test which is the first for both the teams.

Bangladesh have won the toss and will bat first in the #PinkBallTest @Paytm #INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/LCTkWZ6bKM

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 22, 2019

A silver coin brought out especially for the game was used for the toss.

Also read: Eden Gardens turns pink for India-Bangladesh maiden Day/Night Test

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with Bangladesh Cricket Board Chairman Nazmul Hasan and some of Indias biggest cricket icons such as Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar are in attendance at the historic match.

Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, @MamataOfficial, Honourable Chief Minister, West Bengal and #TeamIndia great @sachin_rt greet #TeamIndia ahead of the #PinkballTest pic.twitter.com/ldyrKjbxrE

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 22, 2019

“We want people coming back to the game,” said BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, who made the match possible by convincing the Bangladesh Cricket Board to agree.
This is just the 12th Day/Night game.

Also present at the Eden Gardens on Friday are a host of Indian sporting stars such as Olympic gold-medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, six-time world champion boxer MC Mary Kom, and Grand Slam-winning tennis star Sania Mirza.

Brief Score:

Bangladesh 1st innings: 73 for 6 in 21.4 overs (Shadman Islam 29, Liton Das 24 retired hurt; Umesh Yadav 3/29).

The Teams:

India: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma

Bangladesh: Shadman Islam, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque(c), Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Liton Das(w), Nayeem Hasan, Abu Jayed, Al-Amin Hossain, Ebadat Hossain.

(With inputs from agencies)