Harshit Rana came steaming in, ball after ball, but luck continued to evade him. After four overs, the tall pacer had given away just 6 runs and bowled a maiden. There were plenty of oohs and aahs, but he and Mohammed Siraj weren’t able to break the Australia cricket team‘s second wicket stand. As Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney built on their partnership, frustration for Indian bowlers grew as well. They’d been bowling well, testing the edge, but the wicket wasn’t offering much, and batters looked at ease.
Pink ball’s light challenge
Harshit came in for another over. But, two balls into his 5th and the innings 17th over, the floodlights went out. Such instances aren’t a rare occurrence. But it was perhaps the first instance of a floodlight malfunction in a Test match. Since the oldest format is played from morning to evening, floodlights aren’t usually needed. But a pink ball Test brings a challenge into the fray.
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Floodlights out go in India vs Australia 2nd Test
Players haven’t talked about finding it difficult to face the pink ball under the lights, but what do you do when the light goes out? Well, you wait. And Labuschagne and McSweeney did just that. Harshit, too, took a breather. In less than a couple of minutes, the issue was resolved, but two balls later, it happened again, and Harshit let his frustrations known.
The pacer who failed to break through the defense of Australian batters wasn’t pleased one bit. After another halt, cricket resumed once again. But not much changed. The lines from Siraj and Nitish Kumar Reddy were tight, but there was hardly any assistance, especially when considering what happened in the second session.
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