Follow UsIndia welcomed South Africa with a rank-turner of a surface at the Eden Gardens during the first Test of the series, on November 14 (Friday). While they thought that the turning surface would give them the best chance of winning the clash, it backfired spectacularly, as the visitors completed a historic 30-run win to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
In the aftermath of the clash, the pitch was at the centre of all discussions, with Gautam Gambhir stating that it was ‘exactly the pitch’ that India wanted. However, several former cricketers, including former India captain Sourav Ganguly, begged to differ, stating that India must play on better wickets’.
“It was not the greatest, I’ll have to completely admit, and I think the top-order batting, the middle-order batting, you know, deserves a better cricketing surface. It was a full house at Eden Gardens for those three days, and I completely believe that Gautam Gambhir and his team in India must play on much better wickets than what they played at Eden Gardens,” Ganguly told India Today.
Ganguly was also quick to point out that it was the BCCI’s curators who had prepared the wicket, and the CAB had no say over the pitch or the conditions in play for the first Test against South Africa.
“Curators from the BCCI come and take over the wickets four days before the Test match. We have our own curator (Sujan Mukherjee) as well, who’s done exceptionally well for a long time. The requests are made, and you keep the requests. That’s what it is.”
As a former cricketer, Ganguly also reckoned that the Indian team should prepare good surfaces, and insisted that the Men in Blue have the bowling attack to get 20 wickets irrespective of the conditions.
“So they have to be patient on that. As I said, they have the bowling attack to get 20 wickets, as you saw at the Oval on the last day, as you saw in Edgbaston during that series (vs England), so they can do that as well. Swing comes into play in India with the ball getting old. So it’s just a mindset change.”
With a 1-0 lead, the series’ focus now shifts to Guwahati, where the two teams will play the second Test on November 22 (Saturday).