Ben Stokes flags 'dangerous' pink ball behaviour under lights

As the Day-Night Test between India and England approaches, the pink ball’s behaviour, especially during the twilight period has come under close scrutiny.

There has only been one Day-Night Test on Indian soil when Bangladesh toured India back in 2019. The players were visibly troubled by the nature of the ball and as many as four batsmen from Bangladesh were hit on the head. Two were later forced to be substituted for showing signs of concussion.

Fielders too faced the problems of visibility and were found late while attempting to catch the balls standing in slips or other close positions.

Two years later, the script for the pink ball Test looks the same. 

England all-rounder Ben Stokes recently warned in a Talksport podcast that the tourist camp had to call off a net session owing to the weird behaviour of the pink cherry. He further stated that when the trio of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Jofra Archer started extracting extra bounce and pace under the lights, conditions became dangerous and England were forced to abandon ship to protect their batsmen.

"Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and Jofra Archer have been licking their lips, I can tell you. It's a completely different game,” Stokes was quoted as saying by talkSPORT.

"It was funny in training yesterday when the lights came on, the nets actually got really dangerous. The bowlers had to stop bowling in the nets because we were actually worried that some of the batters were going to get injured because the ball started jumping off a length and a few guys actually got hit.”

"We had to take the bowlers out into the middle to finish their spells. Whether that's going to be similar in the middle we're not sure. But you can tell the difference when bowling with a red ball in the normal times you see Tests played to bowling with a pink ball when the lights are on."

If the words of Stokes are anything to go by, batsmen on both sides will have their task cut out against a ball that is difficult to spot in the final session and will probably move more due to a pronounced seam.

To add to the complexity of visibility of the pink ball, the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad does not possess tall light-towers instead it has circular LED lights around the perimeter of the rooftop. It may alter the visibility of the ball when it goes up high in the air, and catching might be tricky in the Day-Night affair.

India’s number three in Tests, Cheteshwar Pujara, had raised similar concerns after playing in the maiden Day-Night Test against Bangladesh in 2019. He had said that players walking out to bat in the second and the third session can face problems finding the pink ball that moves around a lot more than the red ball under lights.

“You have to concentrate a little extra and spend a little bit more time at the crease to get used to it. When it comes to red ball, visibility isn’t an issue at all during the day. But with pink ball under lights, when you walk in to bat during the second or the third session, visibility can be a bit of a problem as you are sitting in the dressing room and suddenly you are walking in under lights. It swings a bit more. So you have to spend a little more time at the crease, try to get used to that light and then maybe you can start playing your shots,” Pujara had said to The Indian Express.

England have the experience of playing in three Day-Night Test while India have played only two with the pink ball. India have won a game against Bangladesh while another match ended in a humiliation of being bowled out for their lowest score in Tests (36). England, on the other hand, have played three Day-Night Tests and have gone on to lose two of them.