The pitch in Kolkata will assist slow bowlers and aid reverse swing.
The pitches have been a major talking point before every home game for India. With so many venues, India have the luxury of choosing tracks according to their strengths and what the opponents bring. However, lately, a lot of that has also been influenced by the World Test Championship (WTC) and their own struggles in certain conditions.
According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, the Kolkata pitch for the first Test against South Africa will be devoid of grass, and the ball might start reversing quickly. That naturally means it will slow down after the initial bounce and carry, and the spinners will come into the frame. It’s completely contrasting to the West Indies Tests, where the Ahmedabad game saw one of the most lively pitches for fast bowlers in India and a rather docile one in Delhi for the next, where bowlers had to toil much more.
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Before getting there, it’s worth noting that the original venue for this Test was Delhi, where the second West Indies Test happened. However, it was changed due to pollution. There was a reason why India opted not to play South Africa at Eden Gardens: no matter how much they change, the pitch here inherently favours fast bowlers and will always have something for them.
Among all nine Indian venues with at least five day Tests since 2010, Eden Gardens has the best average (29.77) for pacers, and spinners’ average (38.61) is the worst. On average, the fast bowlers have snared 58.46% of wickets here. On including the day-night Tests, pacers’ numbers naturally improve.
Now South Africa have one of the better pace attacks in Test cricket at the moment. They have Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen as lead pacers, while Wiaan Mulder and Corbin Bosch are more than capable. If there’s anything in the deck, they will exploit it straight away, and India want to negate the seam movement threat.
Indian batters have issues against the moving ball, and the plan to give a green pitch for the ‘A’ Test in Bengaluru heavily backfired. That team had almost all the main Test batters and failed to counter a relatively inexperienced South Africa A bowling attack. In the first innings, they bundled on 255 and could only score in the second innings because the pitch improved significantly.
This performance confirmed India can’t afford to give a similar one against the main attack. Since 2021, South Africa’s pacers have had the best average (25.40) in Asia, even better than India. Moreover, cooler temperatures at the start and end of the innings will induce more lateral movement.
So, pacers already have enough natural assistance off the pitch and in the air. India want to do everything possible to reduce it. Fortunately, they have enough quality pacers and spinners to operate effectively on any kind of deck and bring wickets.
Ultimately, it’s the batters who are vulnerable. For instance, Shubman Gill still has issues against the incoming deliveries, while Yashasvi Jaiswal also struggles with fuller deliveries at times. Rishabh Pant has his methods, but the angle across him from over the wicket has troubled him, and those issues will exacerbate on pace-friendly pitches.
Another reason to opt for the black soil slow pitch in Kolkata is the uncertainty around the Guwahati venue. The second Test will be the venue’s maiden in the format. Hence, India and everyone involved will assess conditions based on initial looks rather than previous data or patterns.
At this time of year, pacers will have more assistance, especially since artificial lights will be used more. There will also be an early start due to the early sunset. That will again increase the pacers’ role, even if marginally.
Hence, India will look to get positive results in Kolkata before moving to Guwahati. These reasons led them to opt for a black soil pitch. This gives them the best chance to secure crucial World Test Championship points.
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