Pink balls made its domestic debut in India in August during the Duleep Trophy match between India Red and India Green. The move of playing day-night Test matches with the pink ball has been used as an experiment by the BCCI to see if it can be successfully implemented for future matches, featuring the national side on home soil.
The first pink-ball Test match at the international level featured Australia and New Zealand and took place last year to mixed response.There have been reports of bowlers, who used the pink ball for the first time ever in a competitive match, in the Duleep trophy not being able to control their swing. Besides these, BCCI has another problem, keeping the expensive Kookaburra pink cricket balls safe.
The BCCI is worried about the safety of the pink balls, which costs Rs 8000 each.
The board fears theft, as a result of which, they have allotted a special official, who will keep a watch over the pink balls kept in a room, which also includes CCTV surveillance.
"These balls are very expensive. That is why we made this arrangement. Besides that, the match referee also audits balls following the day's proceedings. We have given 12 pink balls each to the teams for their practice sessions," Hindustan Times quoted a BCCI official as saying.
Though the pink balls have been used in the Duleep Trophy, it remains to be seen if/when the BCCI decides to use it in a cricket match comprising India.
With the upcoming India-New Zealand Test series, which will have three matches, all scheduled for a 9:30 a.m start, a wait for the Test match pink ball debut in India remains. But with a long home season, BCCI could decide to use it in the next few series, where they host England in Nov-Dec and Australia in February-March 2017.
