Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI invites Vishwanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen to ring Eden Gardens bell

The newly elected President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Sourav Ganguly and his team is leaving no stone unturned in making the Pink Ball Day-Night Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, starting on November 22nd. 

Apart from inviting a whole host of public figures which include the likes of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Tennis sensation Sania Mirza, world badminton champion PV Sindhu, and six-time boxing world champion Mary Kom, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will kick-off the proceedings by ringing the bell on an opening day.

Besides celebrating India’s iconic 171-run win at the Eden Gardens against Australia in 2001, The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is also planning to felicitate the team members of the Bangladesh-India first-ever Test back in 2000, which also happened to be the debut Test of Sourav Ganguly as captain.

Sourav Ganguly and BCCI awaiting confirmation from Magnus Carlsen

But, the BCCI hasn’t stopped at just that. The Sourav Ganguly-led India’s apex-cricketing body has invited the reigning and former world chess champions- Magnus Carlsen & Vishwanathan Anand to ring the bell on one of the days of the Pink-Ball Test.

According to the sources in the Cricket Association of Bengal, as reported in CricketNext, Anand has already accepted the offer by the BCCI. They are, however, awaiting confirmation from Magnus Carlsen, who would be involved in the Tata Steel Chess India- Rapid & Blitz 2019,  the penultimate leg of the Grand Chess Tour.

“The BCCI has invited Carlsen to ring the Eden bell and if time permits, he along with Anand will be seen at the stadium in one of the five days,” Jeet Banerjee, the director of Gameplan Sports, the official sponsors and branding partner of the Grand Chess tour, said as quoted by CricketNext.

This will be the first time a day-night Test will be played by both India and Bangladesh and the BCCI is hoping that it can cash-in on the opportunity in a bid to attract the fans back to the stadiums to watch the purest format of the game.

India is currently playing three-match T20I series, they leveled the series 1-1 with Bangladesh. The last game of the series will take place in Nagpur.