New Delhi, May 20 (IANS): The India women's cricket team will play a day-night Test (with pink ball) on their tour of Australia later this year, the Indian cricket board announced on Thursday.
"Taking forward our commitment towards women's cricket, I am extremely pleased to announce that Team India @BCCIwomen will play in their first-ever pink ball day-night Test later this year in Australia," Jay Shah, the secretary of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), wrote on his Twitter handle.
Immediately after Shah's tweet, the International Cricket Council (ICC) also announced the news on its Twitter handle quoting Shah.
The decision comes following severe criticism from various quarters that the current BCCI dispensation has ignored women's cricket. The Indian women's team didn't play any cricket for almost a year before the home series against South Africa.
Even the women players' contracts were announced only on Wednesday night, well over a month after contracts for men's team were announced.
That aside, the women's squad for the tour of England was announced much after the men's squad was announced even though both the teams are to depart for England on June 2 in the same charter flight.
The India women's team is set to tour Australia for the first time in 15 years for a one-off Test and a white-ball series in September.
The BCCI and Cricket Australia (CA), however, are yet to make an announcement.
In all, the two teams have played nine Tests, with Australia leading 4-0. Five matches have ended as draw.