First ever pink ball Test Match in India inaugurated by Bengal CM and Bangladesh PM

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated India’s first Day-Night Test by ringing the Eden Gardens Bell in Kolkata. The ringing of the bell just before the start of the game by the Bangladeshi Prime Minister and Bengal Chief Minister on Friday marked the beginning of the historic match in front of a full house crowd at the iconic stadium.

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The pink ball test match is being hailed as another opportunity to strengthen the bonhomie between the neighboring countries. A special Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight carried PM Sheikh Hasina to NSC Bose International Airport where she was received at the airport by Kolkata Mayor and West Bengal Minister for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Firhad Hakim and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly. She was taken to Eden Gardens from the airport. Hasina and Banerjee are scheduled to hold a brief one-on-one meeting on bilateral issues as well.

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Full House

The iconic Eden Gardens at Kolkata added a new feather in its hat by conducting the first-ever day-night test match in the country but the subcontinent as well. The match saw a full house of Indian athletes ranging from Venkatesh Prasad, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Kris Srikkanth, Farook Engineer and Chandu Borde to Abhinav Bindra, P Gopichand, P V Sindhu, Sania Mirza and Mary Kom who are gracing the historic day, apart from the eighty-plus thousand crowd in the stadium and outside.

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"We are good neighbors. India and Bangladesh are good friends and have a very good relationship. This will make relations even better. This will be an iconic day for both India and Bangladesh. We are proud of this. Glad our Prime Minister is here. Thanks to Sourav for this. This too is our first pink-ball match. Bangladesh cricket has been working immensely hard to reach this and India is a super cricketing nation", claimed a Bangladeshi news journalist who has flown from Dhaka to witness this match.

India will be the last major cricket playing nation to enter the pink-ball Test era with this match. Though the format was introduced in 2015, India was reluctant to join it until former captain Sourav Ganguly became the new BCCI Chairman. 

"Its a great, great initiative at this wonderful stadium. We have to see how the pink ball behaves. We would want to see a full five-day match. Wouldn't be nice if it gets over in 3 days," claimed former Indian legend Dilip Vengsarkar while entering Eden.

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