Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly on Saturday came to the defence of the crumbling Eden Gardens pitch being used in the first Test of the two-match series between India and South Africa.
After India was dismissed for 189 in response to South Africa’s first innings total of 159, the Proteas struggled against the spin, particularly Ravindra Jadeja’s deliveries, sinking to 93/7 with a lead of just 63 runs.
India vs South Africa: 1st Test, Day 3 – Live Score
“The pitch is what the Indian camp wanted. This is what happens when you don’t water the pitch for four days. Curator Sujan Mukherjee can’t be blamed,” Sourav Ganguly told News18 Bangla.
This is after the CAB president himself had claimed earlier in the week that Gautam Gambhir
and the Indian team management had not requested a rank turner.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir, who arrived late on Sunday with the team members from the white-ball series in Australia, inspected the Eden pitch on Monday morning along with batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.
Ganguly also inspected the wicket later in the evening, after which the entire square was covered to protect it from dew or any possible showers.
“They haven’t asked for it yet, so I can’t answer that question. It looks like a very good one,” Ganguly had told PTI on Monday when asked if the Indian team management had requested a turning wicket.
India Coach ‘Surprised’
On Saturday, India bowling coach Morne Morkel admitted that his side was “surprised” by how quickly the Eden Gardens surface “deteriorated” after a dramatic second day in which 15 wickets fell, shifting the opening Test sharply in India’s favour.
Morkel said the team had not expected such rapid wear and tear on the pitch.
“Yeah, look, I mean, to be honest with you, even we didn’t expect a wicket to deteriorate so quickly… we all thought when we watched that first couple of hours that it was a good wicket, so it did deteriorate quite quickly, which was unexpected,” he said after the second day’s play.
This unpredictability is what makes playing in India challenging, he added.
“That’s the beauty sometimes of playing in the subcontinent… you need to be able to adapt and react to conditions quite quickly and that’s the sort of challenge that we’re facing here at the moment.”
(With inputs from Eeron Roy Barman and Agencies)
