On the guidelines of the historic pink ball day-night Test match between India and Bangladesh on Friday, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will meet West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata.
Hasina, who arrived in Kolkata on Friday morning, will inaugurate the first ever pink- ball Test match between the two teams at Eden Gardens stadium. She was received by Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly at the airport.
BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly had earlierinvited the Bangladeshi PM to watch the first pink ball, day-night Test match to be played on Indian soil , while Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also made a request in view of the historic nature of the game, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday.
Several former leading cricketers, including Sachin Tendulkar are attending match, which is taking place seven years after the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave its approval to the pink ball format. The historic match will kick off with Army paratroopers flying into the Eden Gardens to hand over a pink ball each to the two captains, right before the toss. Hasina and Banerjee will then ring the customary Eden Bell.
The two leaders shall hold a brief one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the match. The meeting could provide for an opportunity to discuss Bangladesh’s long-standing demand for an agreement on the sharing of Teesta river waters. Banerjee, however, has opposed the agreement, saying it could affect water supplies in West Bengal during the dry season.
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