RAWALPINDI (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan captain Babar Azam and head coach Mike Hesson have said the team should consider playing home Tests with the pink ball, after bad light and rain wiped out around 141 overs of the drawn first Test against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi.
Players walked off before the scheduled close every evening of the match, and the fourth day was called off in the afternoon after the light faded and rain followed. On Friday, Saud Shakeel’s 97 helped Pakistan bat out the final day for a draw.
“It is certainly something that needs to be talked about for the future series. It is going to be a challenge to play Test matches in this time of the year regardless of where in Pakistan,” Hesson said. “As the ICC have now allowed that to be an option, this is something that seriously needs to be considered before the series.”
Babar welcomed the idea but ruled it out for the second Test, which starts in Rawalpindi on November 17. “You will need to prepare for it as we usually play with the red ball. A couple of days are not enough to prepare to play a Test with the pink ball,” he said. “It is good that we have it as an option, but the preparation for a pink-ball Test demands more time.”
Under a trial rule that came into force on October 1, the pink ball can be used in daytime Tests if both boards agree, to cut the time lost to bad light. The choice has to be made before the match starts, and the ball cannot be changed once play begins.
Pakistan have never played a pink-ball Test at home. They hosted two day-night Tests in Dubai, against West Indies in October 2016 and Sri Lanka in October 2017, and have won only one of their four day-night Tests, the first, when Azhar Ali made 302 not out against West Indies.
The weather has already shaped the series. Smog forced the second Test out of Lahore, so both matches are being played in Rawalpindi.
