Cheteshwar Pujara shared the key differences between the pink and red balls before 2nd Test. After starting the Australia tour with a 295-run win in the Perth Test, India will soon go to the city where they were last bundled out for 36 runs in December 2020. India will play a day-night Test here in Adelaide once again and Cheteshwar Pujara believes that they will have to adapt quickly to the pink ball as it skids a bit more.
Pujara’s analysis of key differences in both balls
“If you look at the red ball, it doesn’t shine as much. You can see that the pink ball shines a little more than the red ball. The reason is that it has a few more color coats, it has a little more layers of paint, which doesn’t go off as quickly. When you are facing the red ball, it is a normal leather ball which gets old very quickly. Whereas the pink ball has a shine for a longer time,” Pujara said in an interview.
“And because the pink ball has more layers of paint when it hits the pitch, seams, or even the shiny part, it skids a little more. So as a batsman, you have less time. You don’t have as much time as you would playing the red ball and that is the big difference to adjust to.”
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When India was bowled out in 21.2 overs at Adelaide five years ago for their lowest-ever Test total, the Indian batsmen did not collapse like a pack of cards in the evening, when the pink ball is more difficult to play, especially against fast bowlers. Resuming at nine for one from the score of the previous day, India batted in the afternoon and lost nine wickets in the next hour.
Batting in a day-night Test is most difficult in the evening when the sun has set and the sky is neither bright nor dark.
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Pujara admitted, “Anyone who has played a Test match with a pink ball will tell you that batting in the evening is the most difficult. At that time, there is no complete light, nor is it completely dark, so that the stadium lights are turned on and then you can see a little less. So it is more challenging for the batsmen to play with the pink ball at that time.”
