Mumbai: With Eden Gardens on the verge of making history by staging India’s first day-night four-dayer of the Super League final between Bhowanipore Club and Mohun Bagan with pink balls, rain posed a big threat as the compulsory net session of both the finalists were cancelled following a downpour in Kolkata on Friday.
The Maidan in Kolkata is excited to stage such a fixture among the top two city teams which have the likes of India players Wriddhiman Saha and Mohammad Shami. On paper, Mohun Bagan looks a better side with these two seasoned campaigner in their ranks and Bhowanipore is set to miss a few crucial players in Aritra Chatterjee, Prinan Dutta.
“Though we will miss the services of few players, still we have good chance of winning the game, provided all apply themselves perfectly,” Bhowanipore coach Abdul Monayem told SportsCrunch on the eve of the final.
Monayem though lamented for missing the compulsory practice session because of showers, still he hopes to have a good match. “We have decided to have a brief net session tomorrow at 12 in the indoor…Players will just do some knocking,” he said.
Shami, however, was more confident despite the fact that he would have to bowl with the pink ball. “The only change is the colour of the ball. Obviously, it will be a new challenge but since experts are saying it’s the future, we have to adapt quickly,” Shami told reporters.
Saha, who will be keeping wickets for Mohiun Bagan, is the only player among the bunch to have played with the pink ball back in 2009-10 when he toured with India A team to play few matches against Australia A.
Mohun Bagan coach Palash Nandy heaped praise on Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav Ganguly who is behind this initiative that is bound to enter the history of Indian cricket. “This match will go into history books. We could not have asked for more. All this could take place only because of Ganguly and his great ideas. We thank CAB for such an initiative,” Nandy told reporters at the Eden Gardens on Friday.