Virat Kohli ready to play Day/Night Test in Australia only if practice games are held

Virat Kohli, who is set to lead India in their maiden Day/Night Test match against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens starting Friday, said that he is not against playing a Day/Night Test in Australia. However, he has a condition, that there should be a practice game before the pink-ball Test.

When asked about the situation, Kohli was quoted as saying in Kolkata on the eve of the Day/Night Test,

"Whenever it is held (Day/Night Test), there should be a practice game before."

India refused to play a Day/Night encounter during the tour of Australia last year. And, their first Test under floodlights is being played four years after the first-ever Day/Night Test was held at Adelaide in 2015.

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Kohli opened up about why India had not agreed to pink ball-Test previously. The 31-year-old explained,

"Obviously, we wanted to get a feel of pink ball cricket. Eventually, it had to happen. But you can't just bring those things up before a big tour and suddenly in the schedule, there is a pink ball Test, when we have not even practiced with pink ball. We have not played any first-class game with the pink ball. It can't be that sudden."

India refused to play a Day-Night Test in Australia in 2018

The Indian captain also went on to elaborate on why proper planning and preparation is needed before heading into a Day/Night Test.

"You can't just go in two days before and say you're playing a pink ball Test in a week's time. We didn't really think it was logical from that point of view. It needed a bit of preparation. Once you get used to playing it there's no problem playing at all.”

The India-Bangladesh Test at Kolkata will be the 12th Day/Night match in the history of the game, and the first for both India and Bangladesh. The timing of the Eden Gardens Test will be 1 pm to 8 pm to counter the dew factor.

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly earlier informed that tickets for the first four days of the Test have been sold out. The historic match will also mark the first appearance of the SG pink ball in Test cricket.