The first Test between India and South Africa at the Eden Gardens has triggered a debate over pitch conditions, with the surface drawing widespread criticism for its excessive help to bowlers. Amid accusations
directed at the curator and the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), its president Sourav Ganguly has shifted the blame away from the ground staff and onto India’s team management.
The Kolkata Test has been dominated by bowlers from the opening session with uneven bounce, sharp turn, and inconsistent movement, making batting extremely difficult, leading to unusually low totals from both teams. As many as 24 wickets fell before the final hour of Day 2, and not a single team managed to touch the 200-run mark across the first three innings. This contrasted with Ganguly’s earlier comment of an even contest, resulting in fans and former players questioning the quality of the preparation of the surface.
The Eden pitch has come under intense scrutiny, with former England captain Michael Vaughan calling it an awful pitch, and Harbhajan Singh stating. “RIP Test cricket,” while slamming the conditions. Notably, the ball behaved unpredictably from the very first over, jumping off a length one moment and staying low the next. However, having faced immense criticism, Ganguly strongly defended curator Sujan Mukherjee, making it clear that the surface was not his fault. Instead, the former captain revealed that the Indian team management specifically requested such a pitch.
“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," Ganguly told News18 Bangla.
Even we didn’t expect a wicket to deteriorate so quickly: Morne Morkel
Notably, South Africa was bowled out for 159 in the first innings, with Bumrah taking a five-wicket haul. India responded with 189, with KL Rahul top-scoring with 39, before South Africa folded for 153 in the third innings despite a fighting fifty from Temba Bavuma. India were left chasing 124, a tough target on this surface and one that would become the highest successful Test chase at Eden if achieved.
Ganguly’s comments contradict earlier statements from the curator, who had said a week before the Test that no request for a rank turner had been made by Gautam Gambhir and the team management. Even India's bowling coach Morne Morkel admitted after Day 2 that the team did not expect the pitch to deteriorate so quickly.
“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," Morkel said after the second day’s play.
