Why Is Pink Ball Used In D/N Test Matches, While White For D/N ODI?

 

Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world. With the start of T20 International matches, Cricket is now played in 3 different formats – Test, One Day Internationals (50 overs) and Twenty20 (20 overs). Test cricket is the oldest and highest standard of the game. A match between two nations which hold Test status is called as a Test match.

Most of us know that ODI matches are played with a white cricket ball, day Test matches with a red cricket ball and recently pink ball are introduced and being used for day and night Test matches. So do you know the reason behind this?

Right from the start of cricket, balls used were usually red. Red balls were used after the start of One Day Internationals (ODI) also. But with the introduction of the day and night ODI’s, players faced a visibility problem because of the red balls under the yellow floodlights.

This is because, under yellow floodlights, a red ball will become brownish color which will match with the color of the batting pitch. In order to eliminate this issue, white balls were introduced in day & night one-day matches. As white balls can be visible at night-time when compared to the red balls. Presently, all one day matches both day matches and day and night matches are played with white balls only.

To attract more audience for the game of cricket, experts and former players have suggested day-night test matches. There was a visibility problem with a red ball during the day and night Test matches. So to overcome this issue they have come up with Pink balls.
Usually, one may get the question, why did they choose a pink ball over a white ball?

White balls become dirty and in its color very quickly  (usually after 30-40 overs of play). In ODI cricket, 2 white balls are used in each innings so that the ball can be clearly visible for 50-overs. But the pink ball becomes dull slowly when compared to that of white balls, so we don’t need to change a ball for every 30 overs.