After the completion of the white-ball series against Australia, down under, the action will now shift back at home as the Men in Blue are scheduled to host World Test Championship winners, South Africa
in a multi-format series . While the tour will begin with the two-match Test series, starting from November 14 in Kolkata, they will then lock horns in three ODIs, followed by five T20Is until December 19.
As the two Test teams are already in Kolkata, preparing for the highly-anticipated red-ball series, the Shubman Gill & Co. will look to dominate the reigning WTC champions in their first major challenge at home. As they prepare for the high-octane clash, pitch is being the most-talked topic at the moment, especially after the pitches during the West Indies series were not rank turners.
It will be a good sporting wicket: Eden Gardens pitch curator opens up ahead of first Test
Days prior to the series opener, Eden Gardens’ pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee opened up on what the pitch has on offer and the talk which he has had with Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir. Speaking with Boria Majumdar after India’s optional training session on Tuesday, November 11, Sujan said, “The pitch will be good. It will be a good sporting wicket. As the days progress, there will be turn. There will be bounce. But everybody – batter, bowler – there is something for everybody on this pitch.”
While speaking of the chat with the home team, he added, “See, if you go to Australia, there will be bounce. Likewise, Indian teams ask for a bit of turn. Not much, but they ask for a bit of turn.” When asked if rank turners could come back to haunt India again, the curator replied, “How can I say that? Those who play will be able to tell this. Our job is to prepare the pitch and try to give a good pitch. I hope people who watch the match enjoy the contest between bat and ball.”
Watch video of Sujan Mukherjee speak of Kolkata pitch ahead of 1 st Test:
India’s squad for two-match Test series against South Africa:
Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK) (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep
