MUMBAI: India will take on Bangladesh in both nations’ first ever day-night Test match, to be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata from Nov 22 to 26 as the second game of a two-match series.

Newly appointed Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly, a long-time supporter of day-night Tests, first proposed the idea to home side captain Virat Kohli before speaking with Bangladesh Cricket Board officials.

“Day-night Test cricket is a huge step forward and we believe it will bring back the crowd into stadiums and a whole lot of young children to the sport,” Ganguly said in a statement on Tuesday.

Bangladesh will be without their all-rounder captain Shakib Al Hasan, who was banned from all cricket for at least a year on Tuesday after he was found to have breached the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption code.

Ganguly said the match would help support Test cricket, the longest format of the game, which has seen dwindling audiences in recent years.

“Test cricket is of utmost priority, and we at BCCI will leave no stone unturned to bring this format back to its feet,” the former India captain said.

India, Bangladesh, Afgha­n­istan and Ireland are the only teams among the 12 Test-playing nations to have not yet played day-night Tests.

One of the major concerns for Bangladesh will be the lack of match practice with the pink balls used in day-night games, having only played one first-class match with them in the country in February 2013.

“We’re really looking forward to the challenge,” Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo told reporters. “We’re not going to have a lot of time to prepare with the pink ball, but it’s the same for India.”

The tour also includes three T20 Internationals, with the first match to be held in Delhi on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2019