KOLKATA: When Gautam Gambhir tries to rummage through the wreckage to hang onto something approaching positive, he may tell himself that at least the loss was on his own terms. The team management ordered a pitch designed to not last the distance in order to catch their visitors out cold.
But the joke — and this is something that has happened in Indian cricket's recent history (Indore against Australia in 2023 and Mumbai against New Zealand in 2024 to name two) — was on the Indian team.
An underwatered black soil deck was meant to enhance the strengths of the hosts but it also brought the South Africans into the game. And on an already misbehaving strip on Day Three, Simon Harmer & Co. ransacked the place to claim one of their greatest away Test wins of all time.
By the time Keshav Maharaj had picked up the final wicket, there was, it seemed, a light emanating from the entire visiting unit. Eden Gardens is closely associated with their cricketing history; it was here that they were officially readmitted to the game after international isolation. Now, 34 years later, they ran all across the venue, like happy children discovering a candy store for the first time.
Mixed messaging
Their mood was in sharp contrast to Gambhir, who said that this was exactly the pitch they wanted. Pitch prep isn't an exact science but he was seemingly contradicting his own bowling coach. Less than 24 hours earlier, Morne Morkel had said they didn't think it would deteriorate this quickly.
Last month, Shubman Gill said he wouldn't be averse to playing on all five days. During the West Indies series, Ravindra Jadeja had said the team management had asked for a 'low, slow' wicket. Generally, the support staff, staff whose public face is the coach, had put forth a messaging where strips would take time to deteriorate. So what changed and why has it changed so soon?
This was anything but. The 22 yards could have made a passable representation of an Indian road post monsoon season but Gambhir, who has now overseen four home Test losses in six, said: "This is what we asked for, this is what we got. I thought the curator was very supportive. When you don't play well, this is what happens."
Need to handle pressure better
From his vantage point, he felt the defeat was as a result of temperament and the incapacity to absorb pressure. "It was more of a test of your technique and mental toughness... those who defended well, scored runs," he said. "There was no demon on this wicket. It was not an unplayable one."
It's true that seamers found joy but that doesn't necessarily showcase the pitch as not a spin-friendly one. Because this pitch, apart from assisting copious amounts of turn from Day One, was also up and down, its variable bounce a factor right from the first over of the Test. When the turn is consistent, you can trust the surface a bit. But when the bounce is inconsistent — you do not know if a length delivery is about to target your stumps or chest — it can reduce batting to a lottery.
It was a point Temba Bavuma alluded to. "I found it a bit tricky to trust the bounce of the wicket," he said. "Some balls were bouncing nicely, others were squatting. So that was a bit tricky, which made cross-batted shots a bit harder. I always back my defence and my game is that simple. I just try to play around my defence."
While most home teams try and get a pitch they want, it's generally not this loaded. And the irony is it needn't have been loaded because India have two world class pacers in Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. But Gambhir said: "We ask for the pitch to aid spinners from Day One so that toss doesn't become crucial. Had we won the Test you wouldn't be asking or discussing so much about pitch. We've got the guys to deliver in any condition."
That's kind of missing the point because batters need an environment to develop, to get better and thrive. They need better decks to feel at home, to know how to go about constructing a long innings over multiple sessions. On pitches like these, they are not going to learn that art.
Here's a sample: no Indian player made more than 39, while four more were dismissed in the 20s. This is what you get on designer tracks, the urge to take chances — risks — because the only guarantee for a batter on surfaces like this is death.