South Africa registered a stunning comeback to clinch their maiden Test win on Indian soil after 15 years.
The crumbling Eden Gardens pitch in the ongoing 1st IND vs SA Test has raised a lot of eyebrows, especially after an embarrassing 3-0 whitewash last year facing New Zealand at home. Previously, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav Ganguly had claimed that the hosts have not requested for spin-friendly tracks for the India vs South Africa series opener.
Following a drastic change on the surface in just two days, the former Indian captain has changed his previous statement regarding the Kolkata pitch. After the stumps on Day 2, which saw a combined collapse of 16 wickets, Ganguly shifted the blame towards the Indian management for asking to prepare such a track.
“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,” he stated to News18 Bangla.
Previously, four days ahead of the red-ball fixture, the former batter had claimed that the Indian management had not requested for a rank-turner for the 1st IND vs SA Test. After head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak’s inspection, Ganguly had also taken a look at the wicket on Monday evening.
“They haven’t asked for it yet, so I can’t answer that question. It looks like a very good one,” noted Ganguly while speaking to PTI on Monday after being questioned about whether the hosts had asked for a spin-friendly pitch.
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What looked like a game well in favour of the hosts after Day 2, completely took an U-turn on the third morning in Kolkata. Earlier, the pace heroics of Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and his bowling pair Mohammed Siraj had folded the Proteas for just 159 runs on the opening day.
But as the wicket started to deteriorate quickly, the spin duo of Simon Harmer and the veteran Keshav Maharaj wreaked havoc to dismiss half of the Indian batting line-up. As a result, India could not take advantage of a low first-innings total of the visitors. They were also bundled out for only 189 runs.
However, a gritty 55-run knock from the World Test Championship (WTC) winning skipper, Temba Bavuma, backed by a crucial contribution from Corbin Bosch (25), powered their total to 153 in the second innings.
But while chasing the sub-par 124-run target, India found themselves in great trouble, losing seven wickets to the spinners. South Africa registered a stunning comeback to clinch their maiden Test win on Indian soil after 15 years.
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