The first Test between India and South Africa ended within three days. There has been plenty of talk about the pitch and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav Ganguly revealed that the curators from BCCI have been appointed for the Test match and days before they have taken over the preperation proscess.
“No, no, I don’t get involved at all,” he told India Today. “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.”
Ganguly acknowledged that the wicket was not the greatest, saying: “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,” said Ganguly.
Ganguly would also take the reference of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy when India managed to score runs and pick wickets on good surfaces. “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.”
Earlier, after the defeat to South Africa in the first Test, Indian Head Coach Gautam Gambhir acknowledged that the team wanted a turning wicket. “This is exactly the pitch we were looking for,” Gambhir said after India failed to chase 124 in the fourth innings. “And I feel that the curator was very, very helpful. This is exactly what we wanted, and this is exactly what we got. If you don’t play well, this is what happens,” Gambhir told reporters.
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