Day-night Test promises a fair competition between bat and ball: Misbah-ul-Haq

Pakistan is set to play their first day-night Test against West Indies starting today at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. This will be the first time that a day-night Test will be played on Asian soil and only the second ever day-night Test overall. Both the teams have practiced under lights and have done their best to get used to the pink ball ahead of the game but only after they take field will we know how well things have gone.

Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq believes that day-night Test is the future and called it “a fair competition between bat and ball”. “At the moment, it looks like [the future] keeping in mind the interest of the audience, who want to watch Test cricket,” Misbah said. “After they [spectators] come from work, it’s a good opportunity and you will see it mostly in future. Let’s see how it goes with the pink ball, it’s an experiment. First the one-day came, then Twenty20 came, so [day-night Test] is a good step to keep the Tests alive.”

“The only difference is the different timing [of the matches], just the visibility because it’s different for red ball and white ball,” he said. “Maybe when the pink ball gets older, you have to look at it carefully as a batsman because it could be difficult at times [under lights]. You need to make a few adjustments here and there. Overall, it’s good playing under lights also. It’s not like it’s terribly difficult for the batsmen. It’s a fair competition between bat and ball.

While talking about the visibility of the pink ball and that it maintains its color better when used on a grassy surface Misbah laughed and said that we will also have to ensure that the team survives with that much grass. “Maybe the pink ball survives on grassy pitches but we also have to make sure that we survive as a team,”

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“You look at your strengths and I believe that it’s up to the team; the better team performs well in all conditions and that is the bottom line. I think if you are a good team, then you do well irrespective of the circumstances. Forget about the pink ball and lights, just go out and perform.”

Pakistan rose to the No. 1 ranking in Test after they leveled the series 2-2 in England but Team India toppled recently them as they beat touring New Zealanders 3-0. Will the team want to win the series 3-0 and enhance their chances of regaining the top spot as soon as possible? “That’s not important for us,” Misbah said.

“The most important thing is to do well; we are more attentive to our performance in this series. You can’t take West Indies lightly because they are a young side and they have everything to prove and such a side is more motivated. We have done well in the last six years, did well on the England tour so the expectations are high.”

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The first Test will be Pakistan’s 400th Test match and the captain said that it will serve a source of “motivation” for the team as they would want to make it a “memorable” match.