Day-night Test against India not finalized: New Zealand Cricket

A day right after the BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur broke the news of India playing their first day-night Test against New Zealand, the New Zealand Cricket board has come up with a statement that the proposed fixture is not finalized yet.

Head of cricket operations at NZC, Lindsay Crocker, said the board had hardly had discussions about a day-night Test in India and had first heard of it only on Friday when Anurag Thakur broke the news at a press meet.

“The first I heard of it was the news that broke overnight, but [NZC chief executive] David [White] maybe a little closer to it because he is in Dubai at the [ICC] chief executive’s conference,” Crocker quoted while talking to stuff.co.nz.

However, Crocker admitted that India and New Zealand sit right next to each other in the ICC meetings at Dubai and hence David White might have had some discussions on this with BCCI executives. “Alphabetically, India traditionally sit next to New Zealand at these conferences so David would have no doubt talked to his Indian equivalent about the concept, but it would have been relatively fresh news to him as well because it certainly wasn’t a discussion we were having when David left a couple of days ago,” Crocker added.

NZC also expressed its excitement on the prospect of playing the first Asian day-night Test. But also stated that a lot of factors need to be taken into consideration before the fixture is finalized. The most crucial of the factors on the list was the practice opportunities under lights given to the New Zealand cricketers in the Indian conditions. Other factors include the choice of venue, its floodlights, and the playing conditions.

Earlier BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur had announced that India will play its first day-night match against New Zealand later this year with the pink ball. He also said prior to the match, Duleep Trophy matches would serve as a dress rehearsal for the day-night Tests.

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