India lock in first day-night Test against Bangladesh

Australia's hopes of convincing India to play a day-night Test have received a major boost after the cricketing superpower announced they will stage their first pink-ball game next month in Kolkata.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced Tuesday that the second Test against Bangladesh starting on November 22 will be played under floodlights at Eden Gardens, in what their new head of cricket Sourav Ganguly said would be a major boost to the five-day game.

India declined to play under lights in their four-Test series in Australia last summer but are set to tour again in 2020-21. The venues for those Tests, and whether any of them will be played under lights, is yet to be determined.

Pakistan and New Zealand will this summer attempt to end Australia's undefeated run in day-night Tests, in Adelaide and Perth respectively.

According to media reports, both India and Bangladesh had to be convinced to take part in what Ganguly, the former batting star who took over as BCCI chief last week, called "the beginning of something special in Indian cricket."

"For me, as former captain of India and as the current president of BCCI, Test cricket is of utmost priority and we at BCCI will leave no stone unturned to bring this format back to its feet," he added.

"In this effort of ours, day-night Test cricket is a huge step forward and we believe it will bring back the crowds into stadiums and a whole lot of young children to the sport."

New BCCI secretary Jay Shah said the new board wanted a campaign aimed at "revolutionising Test cricket and this is our first step towards it”.

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan said the match conditions had been agreed after discussions with the Bangladesh team, who leave for India on Wednesday without star allrounder Shakib al-Hasan following his ban for breaching anti-corruption rules, for three Twenty20 internationals and two Tests.

"We have had a frank and constructive discussion with the players and the team management. I have received a positive response about playing the day-night Test," he said.

Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo said the team is excited.

"We haven't played a pink ball Test. It's a massive occasion at the Eden Gardens. It will be new experience for both the teams so we are very excited about it," Domingo told reporters in Dhaka.

"It will be a great occasion under the lights against one of the best teams in the world, probably the best team in the world. So we are really looking forward to the challenge," he added.

There have been 11 day-night Tests since the first between Australia and New Zealand in 2015, but there's been waning enthusiasm for the concept in recent times.

Cricket Australia's head of cricket operations Peter Roach told cricket.com.au recently that he hopes Australia's strong record in the format isn't a factor for other countries when it comes to agreeing to play them.

"You can understand some hesitancy there, but … when we go overseas, we try to work with the home board on a schedule that that helps them grow Test cricket. We want Test cricket to continue to flourish like it does in our country," said Roach.

"In every conversation we have with overseas boards, they hear how important day-night Test cricket is to the format and sport in our country.

"And equally we need to be accommodating with some of their wishes, because we're all trying to do the same thing, which is put on a great contest for the fans."