The city of joy is ready to witness history. The Eden Gardens in Kolkata will be hosting the first pink-ball Test in India and the city is getting decked up for the same. This will be the first time that India and Bangladesh will be playing a match under artificial lights.
Kolkata is famous for its love for sports, especially cricket. Whenever there is a cricket match, people come over from all across to witness it live in the Eden Gardens. One of the iconic cricket grounds of the world is famous for boasting a huge number of audiences every time India play a match. This time it’s even more special. The Prince of Kolkata, Sourav Ganguly took a bold decision just after becoming the president of the Indian cricket board. He convinced everyone including the Bangladesh Cricket Board for the pink-ball game. Once he got the nod, he decided to arrange it in his home ground. As a result, India with 1-0 lead in the 2-match Test series led by Virat Kohli, are all set to take on the neighbours from November 22 for the pink-ball Test.
Ganguly took a call and asked Kolkata to support him. Kolkata reciprocated and how! Tickets are sold out and Eden is ready for another houseful show.
On this occasion, the Cricket Association of Bengal decided to paint the city pink. The city of joy has turned to the pink city. It is all decked up to welcome the historical event. The famous buildings and towers of the city have already turned pink. Murals around the city are showing Kolkata’s love for sports and a rich history of hosting cricket. Clubs and public places are also sporting pink light adding on to the essence.
There will be a number of dignitaries present in the match from India and Bangladesh and the inauguration will see a chain of events. The events will include the bell ceremony, facilitation of former cricketers, cultural events. The media release by the CAB shared the details of the event flow.
According to the reports, at the 20-minute tea break, former captains and sports stars from other disciplines will be taken out on carts making a round of the ground. Then a 40-minute supper break will see the CAB organizing a talk show featuring where the former cricketers will walk down the memory lane. Among Indian cricketers, there will be Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Sadagopan Ramesh, Saba Karim, Sunil Joshi, Ajit Agarkar, Venkatesh Prasad, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Md. Azharuddin, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Farook Engineer, and. Chandu Borde.
Since it is an iconic event in India’s sports history there will be stars from other sports as well who have made India proud. P Gopichand, PV Sindhu, Abhinav Bindra, Sania Mirza, and Mary Kom. There will be notable Bangladesh players like A M Naimur Rahman, Md. Mahmudul Hasan, Maharab Hossain, Md Hasibul Hussain, Shahriar Hossain Biddut, Kazi Habibul Bashar, and Md. Akram Khan, are few such names.
The CAB media released the event flow on the eve of pink-ball Test that shares details about the events the audience can expect throughout the first day of Eden Test.
–Police band show
–Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walk out to the ground and introduced to the teams.
—Toss with the ceremonial gold coin at 12.30
—Two teams line up for the national anthem
–Eden Bell is rung by Bangladesh Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in presence of BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, BCB President Nazmul Hasan Papon and Sachin Tendulkar and other dignitaries.
—–Game begins at 1 pm
—Supper break– Chat with fabulous five.
— tea break
Instrumental by Sorendu and group
-Lap of honour with former captains and other sportspersons
Post-match
–Performance by Runa Laila
–Felicitation of players by HPM and HCM
—Speeches by the dignitaries
—Cultural programme by Jeet Ganguly