The first ever Duleep Trophy match to be played with the pink ball saw Yuvraj Singh-led India Red defeat the Indian Green side led by Suresh Raina by 219 runs to get their tournament off to a flying start. While the bowlers ruled the roost initially with 17 wickets falling on Day 1, the batsman enjoyed complete domination on the second day while the third and what eventually proved to be the final day of the contest saw both parties having their fair share of ups and downs.
While the fast bowlers impressed in the first part of the match, the spinners started coming into the action more and more as the game progressed leaving many bewildered as to the impact the pink ball was having. So how did the players who had first-hand experience of the newest revolution in cricket rate their experience? Let's find out.
Who better to start off with than India Red opener Abhinav Mukund who top-scored in the first innings with a knock of 77 runs thus helping his side post a respectable total of 161 in the first innings before going one better scoring an aggressive century. Mukund said that he had no issues sighting the pink ball and added that it didn't offer any special swing to the fast bowlers.
"I think a lot of people had issues sighting the ball, but I didn't have any issues with visibility. The wicket was damp, that's perhaps why so many wickets fell on the first day. But I feel the swing was a conventional one and not because of pink ball," Man of the Match Mukund said.
Sudip Chatterjee, yet another centurion for the India Red side also felt that the batsmen had it easy in Greater Noida with the surface and the late night dew also helping their cause.
"On the third evening, the ball was getting heavier due to the dew so it was difficult for bowlers to grip the ball. But while batting, I did not face much problem and a good batting pitch also contributed to it," he said.
India Red skipper Yuvraj Singh, who had a match to forget with the willow and Kuldeep Yadav also felt that the pink ball favoured the batsman much more as the ball was not wearing off as much as the ones being used at present.
"I thought the pink ball moved a bit more than the SG ball. It was pretty exciting, the pink ball doesn't go old. It was coming onto the bat nicely," Yuvraj said.
"Pink ball was dipping well and the drift was also good but there wasn't much turn on offer as you don't require to maintain the ball," Yadav said.
India Green duo Robin Uthappa and Parthiv Patel both felt that there is very little chance of the pink ball reverse swinging as it was maintaining its shape and shine even after long use. They, however, had contrasting views on the visibility of the ball with Parthiv claiming that he had no issues sighting the ball while Uthappa feels that catching the ball under lights will take some time to get used to.
"I had no problem in sighting. During the day, I could see the ball better. Not used to getting the pink ball coming to you. It's a matter of getting used to it but visibility was not a problem," Parthiv said.
"We tried hard but there was no reverse swing. There is conventional swing but the shine is maintained so well that there is no chance of reverse swing. I also found that the colour varied at different times of the day. At one point, it looked light pink, followed by orange at one point of time before it looked bright pink under lights. I think we will get used to it as much as we play," said Uthappa.
Parthiv gave a thumbs up to pink ball’s growing importance in the future of the game but still feels it is a bit too early to conduct a day-night Test match in India.
"As far as future is concerned, too early to say. Definitely, there is a future,” he said. “But dew could be a factor. The ball skid and moved more. Also, I don't think you can have Test matches in sub-continent using this much of grass."
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