5 difficulties Pakistani players faced with the pink ball

The Pakistan Cricket Board opted to use the pink ball in Pakistan domestic cricket, in the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. It was played between United Bank Limited, captained by Younis Khan, and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, captained by Misbah-ul-Haq. SNGPL won the match with a score of 238 runs against 208 runs of UBL. The resulting feedback on the use of the pink ball was far from positive, as the players found it difficult to acclimate themselves to it. Misbah-ul-Haq was supportive of the idea of day-night matches. He said "These day-night Test matches are required, as cricket has become commercial now like other sports. What is important is to keep on evolving and it's important for the public interest and as a professional player we also have to get used to it." "Considering the future with day-night cricket, I think everyone should be playing it and in Pakistan domestic cricket every team should get at least two or three matches every season and not just the final.” Here are five difficulties both sides had with the pink ball.

#1 Pink ball losing its shine

The pink balls didn’t retain their shine

The pink ball is designed to be shiny. But the shine doesn't remain uniform while being thrown and smashed all around the field. It is normal for a ball to change its characteristics as play progresses, but the pink ball added a new wrinkle of losing its sheen.

Taufeeq Umar, SNGPL opening batsman said "Probably it's more about the ball being old. The ball started to get rough, darker and starting mixing up with the light. The time when the floodlights came on and sunlight went down, that was a tricky time and by then if the ball is old and rough, the visibility is the problem for a batsman and fielder as well."

"As soon as the lacquer came off, the pinkish colour started to fade out and you really have to push hard to concentrate."

#2 Hazy winter in Karachi

Cleaner environment would allow greater visibility

As anyone residing in the metro cities in India can attest to, with the increased pollution comes lower visibility. Coupled with the winter, one can add fog to that list. As Azhar Ali, Pakistan ODI captain said "It was a completely new experience for us but overall it went well with some concerns in visibility. I feel with the cleaner environment, like we saw in Australia, it would be great as in winters here it's more hazy."

This is another factor for the organizers to consider when scheduling a day-night match with a pink ball.

#3 Fielding becomes more difficult

Azhar Ali noticed problems fielding with the pink ball

Visibility of the ball was affected by perspective as well, as the playesr found their hand-eye coordination being affected on some occassions. Azhar Ali said “As soon as the floodlights are used, especially during dusk, you really have to focus hard. As a fielder it's hard to see the ball from square of the wicket and sometimes it's a complete miss. Taking high catches was the other issue, as the older ball gets blurrier.”

The fact that fielders found it difficult doesn’t mean that balance was tipped in favour of the batsmen, as the next slide will attest.

#4 Excessive seaming

Misbah-ul-Haq feels players need time to get used to the ball

While convention dictates that reduction in visibility plays against the fielders, the ball presented other problems as well. No batsman managed to score a hundred in the match. On the other hand the fast bowlers had a field day as they took 27 of the 34 wickets.

Misbah-ul-Haq said "With heavy dew in Karachi, the conditions became extremely difficult for batsmen, especially under the lights. The new pink ball was seaming a lot, the moisture on the pitch (due to heavy dew) made it tough for the batsmen. Perhaps the players need more time to get familiar with the ball.

#5 Ball turning multi-coloured

Shan Masood said adjustments were needed

Rhythm and familarity is important for our motor skills to operate efficiently. When players say they need mroe time to grow used to a new kind of ball, their task is made doubly difficult when the ball ends up changing its colours.

Shan Masood, United Bank opening batsman said "I saw the lacquer had come off and it was turning multi-coloured at some stage."

"There were bits of pink left and in lights with dew, the ball skids more than usual, but as a batsman you tend to adjust. Probably we are not used to it so far, so need more games with the pink ball to get it going."