Cricket News: How the pink ball decides the game in favour of teams bowling at night
Australia and West Indies are currently in the midst of a pink ball Test, i.e. a day-night Test that uses the pink ball for better visibility than the traditional red one produces
The pink ball is used for better visibility than the traditional red one produces.Aside from the novelty of watching a Test match with players in whites take place under floodlights, there's also the fact that a pink ball Test produces challenges of its own.
Many believe that a pink ball has two significant challenges – the first is a perceived improvement in the amount of swing it produces and the fact that the ball will supposedly create more lateral movement in the twilight stages of the evening and nighttime.
The fact that a pink ball has a better swing at times has been visible to the naked eye. Bowlers who can generate swing are extremely dangerous with a pink ball.
But the trickiest phase of a day-night Test is the twilight time – due to a belief among many that this is the time when the ball's lateral movement is a lot more.
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Virat Kohli has gone on record to talk about this and said that the pink ball could make batting tough regardless of the surface.
"It is much more challenging to play with a pink ball regardless of the pitch you play on," he had said ahead of a day-night Test at home against England.
"Especially in the evening, if as a batting team, you are starting your innings under lights then that one and a half hour is very challenging."
But why exactly is this the case? The answer is simple – the pink ball has more lacquer on it. Lacquer is the substance put on the ball to give it a shiny look. It sports when new.
So more of that on the pink ball makes it stay shiny much longer –while a new red ball will remain shiny for about an hour, the pink ball stays shiny for much longer.
In fact, on a surface that isn't too abrasive, the shine can last for as long as a session or longer, giving bowlers far more assistance for a more extended period.
Of course, the pink ball can have its own problems – especially for faster bowlers relying on the reverse swing and spinners.
The ball can take a lot of work to be prepared for the reverse swing because making one side of the ball heavier than the other – a key component of reverse swing – is impossible due to the shine of the pink ball.
There's also the fact that with sure pink balls – especially the Dukes and Kookaburra variety – the seam is not that prominent, making it much harder for spinners to get in the game.
It isn't the case with the India-based SG balls, though – they have a very prominent seam and can often lead to spinners getting wickets by the truckload.
Nevertheless, the one common factor among all pink balls is the ability to get more swing bowling, which makes for some very entertaining matches.
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