[caption id="attachment_16471" align="alignnone" width="580"]mb-practice--at--eden-02 Mohun Bagan captain Subhomoy Das with Wriddhiman Saha and Debabrata Das at the Eden Gardens. Image Source: Xtra Time[/caption] Kolkata: Rain may play a spoilsport in the much hyped first ever pink ball match in India to be played at the Eden Gardens from Saturday. With the monsoon fast approaching and the forecast of overcast conditions in the next few days, the first ever pink ball match can be a damp squib. Torrential rains in the evening forced both the Super League finalist teams Mohun Bagan and Bhawanipur to stop practice with the pink ball after just half an hour. The players did not get much opportunity to practice with the pink ball raising doubts about the standard of the game. Local cricket giants Mohun Bagan will look to add a third trophy this season. Subhomoy Das led side has so far won the JC Mukherjee Trophy and Senior Knock-Out tournament. While their opponent on Saturday, Bhawanipur has surprised all by winning the Senior Cricket League. But Abdul Monayem's side will be handicapped with the absence of three key players. Prinan Dutta, Aritra Chatterjee and Agniv Pan will all miss the Super League final against Mohun Bagan. According to Bhawanipur coach Abdul Monayem,"We will draw confidence from the fact that we won against them in the League. It would have been nice to have a full strength squad but will try and give our best to cause an upset." [caption id="attachment_16486" align="alignnone" width="580"]bhabani-pour--team-practice Bhawanipur captain Writtick Chatterjee in action at Eden Gardens on Friday. Image Source: Xtra Time[/caption] Bagan will be bolstered with the presence of India cricketers Md Shami and Wridhiman Saha. Shami has come all the way from Moradabad to play the first ever pink ball match. The Bengal pacer did not practice today with the pink ball. Saha though has the experience of playing with the pink ball in Australia few years back during the Emerging trophy matches with India A. According to Shami, "This will be huge thing for club cricket in Bengal as the upcoming cricketers from both teams will get an exposure." On being asked whether it will be difficult to control the pink ball Shami said, "I think a lot will depend on the wicket as how much grass is left. I found both the Kokaburra white and pink ball the same barring the exception of colour." Shami feels the pink ball will swing a bit more under the lights. Commenting on the difference he noticed with SG balls, Duke balls and now the Kokaburra pink balls, the India pacer commented, "I think it will swing a bit more under the lights. I did roll my arm yesterday at the Eden Gardens and found not much of a difference with Kokaburra white balls used for ODI's." He feels it would have been nice for the bowlers of both teams to get a few practice sessions with the pink ball but at the same time was confident that he will manage to control the pink ball. "I feel we will be short of match practice as we have never played with this pink ball. But you cannot complain with the nature taking it's effect. After bowling a couple of overs with the pink ball, I feel I will be okay with," said Shami. Bhawanipur will be banking on youngsters like Writtick Chatterjee, Parthasarathy Bhattacharya, Ravikant Singh who have been consistent right throughout the season. The local association i.e., the CAB along with the host broadcaster Star Sports are leaving no stone unturned to make the first ever pink ball match a grand success. Sports enthusiasts and cricket lovers of the city can witness the match for free as Gate 4 will remain open for the match days. While the cricketers from local clubs , schools and colleges can come to watch the match from Block B,C,K&L. The match billed as India’s first ever multi-day pink ball in the country will be a possible precursor to a day-night Test later this year in the world's richest cricket market. The four-day match which is being hosted by the Cricket Association of Bengal, headed by former India skipper Sourav Ganguly. The success of the experiment is expected to have a bearing on efforts by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to host a day-night pink ball Test against New Zealand in October. Mohun Bagan team (likely) : Joyjit Basu,Vivek Singh,Arindam Ghosh,Subhomoy Das(c), Wriddhiman Saha,Anustup Majumder, Debabarata Das, Sanjib Sanyal, Md Shami, Rajkumar Paul and Sourav Mondal. 12th man Nilkantha Das Bhawanipur team (likely): Abhishek Das, Aditya Purohit, Writtick Chatterjee, Partha Sarathy Bhattacharya, Uddipan Mukherjee, Subham Chatterjee, Santosh Sabanayakan, Ayan Bhattacharya, Sujit Yadav, Ravikant Singh and Geet Puri. 12th man Arnab Ghosh.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpgnvvJiHnU

Rain may play spoilsport in first ever Pink Ball match in India at Eden Gardens