Cricket is world’s second most popular sport after football. It is played 3 different formats – Test, One Day Internationals ( 50 overs) & Twenty20’s. Test cricket is the highest standard of the game. A match is considered as a ‘Test Match’ only if it is played between two cricketing playing nations with ‘Test status’.
In cricket, ODI matches are played with a white cricket ball, day Test matches with a red cricket ball and a pink ball is being used for day & night Test matches. Do you know the reason behind this?
Here’s the reason behind it :
Since the inception of cricket, balls used are traditionally red, i.e red balls were used from the beginning of test cricket. When there was no concept of One Day Internationals & Twenty20 matches, red balls were the only option for International and First class cricket.
Red balls were used even during the initial days of One Day cricket but after the introduction of day and night ODI’s there was a problem of visibility with the red balls under the yellow floodlights. This is because a red ball under yellow floodlights will become brownish colour which will be similar to the colour of the batting pitch. In order to overcome this issue, white balls were introduced in day & night one-day matches. As white balls are more visible during night-time than the red balls. Presently, all one day matches both day matches and day & night matches are played with white balls only.
To popularize the game of cricket and attract more audience, experts have suggested day-night test matches. And yet again the problem of visibility was there and to overcome this issue they have come up with Pink balls.
Usually, one may get the question, why only pink ball & why not a white ball?
The reason is white balls become dirty & dull in its colour very quick (generally after 30-40 overs of play). In ODI cricket, 2 white balls are used in each inning so that the ball is visible for full 50-overs. But the pink ball deteriorates (becomes dull) more slowly when compared to that of white balls, so we don’t need to change a ball for every 30 overs.
Image Source : Google Images
White ball or pink ball? Share your views in the comment section below.