Tea before lunch in Tests: Unique first in India-RSA Test at Guwahati

[Gollum]

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A 20 minutes tea break will happen at the end of the first session while the 40-minute lunch break will be taken at the end of the second session at 1:20 pm.

 

Toss, lunch, tea, stumps (end of day’s play) … is the usual sequence in Test matches. But it’s about to be upturned in the second Test match between India and South Africa to be played in Guwahati from November 22. For the first time, the players will have a tea break first, before lunch. It’s due to the early sunrise and sunset in the eastern part of the country.

The first session of the Test at the Barsapara stadium will be from 9 am to 11 am, followed by Tea session from 11 am to 11:20 am. The second session will be played from 11:20 am to 1:20 PM. The lunch break will be from 1:20 PM to 2 PM while the third session of the play will be played from 2 pm to 4 pm.

“The reason to have early tea is because Guwahati witnesses early sunset and there is early start too. This will be the first time we have decided to change the Tea session as time will be saved to get extra game time on the field,” a source in the board confirmed to this newspaper.

Traditionally, the Test matches start at 9:30 am in India. A 40 minutes lunch break (11:30 to 12:10 PM) followed by resumption of second sessions. Both the teams undergo a 20 minutes tea break (2:10 PM to 2:30 PM) followed by a third session from 2:30 to 4:30 PM. The match officials can provide extra time of half an hour to allow the team to complete 90 overs per day. The game start time can vary country to country like England begins their Test match at 11 am as they have long days in their summers. However, most of the team follows the traditional lunch-tea breaks during the Test matches.

Cricket South Africa and BCCI both have decided to change their session timing. In the past BCCI has changed their session timing in its Ranji Trophy games to factor in the early sunset situation

Edited October 30, 2025 by Gollum

[Gollum]

Newest test venue in India, earlier the east-most venue was Kolkata. Guwahati is longitudinally same as Sylhet and Chittagong. 

 

As of today, sunset time in Guwahati is 4:43 pm. The test starts on Nov 22, sun will set closer to 4:30, and because of the structure/stands of the stadium, darkness will set in much before that, probably close to 4 pm. 

 

8:30 am start would have been safer I guess. Because often we need those extra 30 minutes at the end of the day to complete the overs. 

Edited October 30, 2025 by Gollum

[LordPrabhzy]

18 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Newest test venue in India, earlier the east-most venue was Kolkata. Guwahati is longitudinally same as Sylhet and Chittagong. 

 

As of today, sunset time in Guwahati is 4:43 pm. The test starts on Nov 22, sun will set closer to 4:30, and because of the structure/stands of the stadium, darkness will set in much before that, probably close to 4 pm. 

 

8:30 am start would have been safer I guess. Because often we need those extra 30 minutes at the end of the day to complete the overs. 

If India had two timezones then this problem would have been addressed

[rkt.india]

18 minutes ago, LordPrabhzy said:

If India had two timezones then this problem would have been addressed

But they have already addressed it by starting half an hour early. Time difference is not more than that.

[deepdynamo]

Its going to be 85 overs max per day ( that too with a stretch). More reason to have a result oriented wicket there.

[Manucrick]

Why even playing at Guwahati at first place 

[Gollum]

In Manipur, Nagaland, eastern Arunachal, sun sets at 4 in winter, rises at 4 in peak summer. At least our NE should get a separate time zone. 

 

Longitudinally many cities/towns in NE are closer to Bangkok, even Kuala Lumpur, than to Kolkata. 

[Ultimate_Game]

We gotta establish our top 5 or 6 Test venues similar to what Aus or Eng does. This would allow us to make sure we get consistent conditions. Rest of the venues can be used for bilateral LOIs and IPL matches.

[Vickydev]

Having Lunch at 11:30 is strange anyways.