The rectangular space in the middle of the Eden Garden grinned devilishly like a horticultural Frankenstein at batsmen. It crushed them in its embrace, made them fearfully numb and reduced them to question the purpose of choosing batting for a living. The numbers present a grim picture—neither side crossed 200 in the first innings, they don’t look destined to nudge the mark in the second innings of a Test that’s hurtling to a hurried climax. No batsman, 29 strode in and out, managed to touch 40; 26 wickets fell in two days.
Only after the match concludes would the match referee grade the pitch’s quality, but the evidences that had piled up on the first two days suggest that it was far from a fair one. Sharp, quick turn and uneven bounce at the start of a Test can only achieve the purpose of decaying Test cricket. When the second ball of the match scooted along the carpet and the third leapt onto the batsman’s chest, it was clear enough that the pitch would be the chief protagonist, the players merely props playing to its wantonness. By the time the second day ended, it was the master puppeteer, the cricketers merely paper silhouettes dancing to the master’s tunes. It produced an uninspiring show.
It could be that in their endeavour not to serve a low-slow turner as they encountered against the West Indies in Delhi, they resorted to the other extreme. The vicious turner, probably the casualty of undercooking. But these are surfaces the home batsmen loathe. This was the fifth instance in the last six completed innings at home that they failed to nudge 300; this was the third time they were shot out beneath 200. India’s spin assortment is the most lethal in the world, but with a group of batsmen that burn and crash at the sight of turners, there is only so much they can do to influence games. So the rationale of dishing out turners is counterintuitive for the hosts themselves.
The surface didn’t utterly shock South Africa’s Simon Harmer. “I have seen worse in the 2015 tour. Mohali was worse, and Nagpur had craters,” he said with a cryptic smile. His then colleague and now India’s bowling coach, Morne Morkel, said he or his teammates didn’t expect such a surface either. But he walked the philosophical tightrope: “That is the beauty of Test cricket and pitches. You are never sure what you will get.”
Not all balls were unplayable, even though a ball with a batsman’s name always swirled around him. But a few balls sufficed to make every ball look indecipherable. For the pitch lives like a ghost in a batsman’s mind. Cricketing wisdom would whisper in his ears to forget the previous ball; common sense would counsel him not to brood on the pitch; the reflexes are trained to deal with any last-ditch deviations. But to fully cleanse the mind of its doubts is impossible.
But not every dismissal merited a rueful look at a surface either. KL Rahul, the rock until his departure, procrastinated, whether to leave or not, whether to defend or not. He ended up half defending and half leaving, performing neither and edging to the slips. Pant departed misjudging a short ball and the ball plopping off his bat handle. Jadeja thrust his front foot to Harmer’s armer, the bat behind the pad to be nailed in front; the off-spinner deceived Jurel in flight and pocketed a low catch. In the first session, he double-bluffed Washington Sundar with an off-break after an armer. Washington had foiled more elaborate snares, but fell to a momentary shiver of doubt. Kuldeep Yadav was caught down the leg-side, and unusually jumpy Axar Patel couldn’t keep his cut down, after the ball bounced awkwardly.
When South Africa’s second turn came, they were prone to blundering as well. Ryan Rickleton, Aiden Markram, and Kyke Verreynne would all curse their own clumsiness rather than the pitch cooking anything untoward. Harmer chimed in: “As Temba (Bavuma) showed, there is a way to bat on the surface, if you apply yourself.” Morkel too praised Bavuma’s measures and methods. Both, though acknowledged that but for all the purpose and perseverance, a ball with his name could be lurking in the corner. There is a time for such instant drama. Not the first two days at least. Not when there are just two Tests in the series. It could only strip the game of its soul. For, no one wants a horticultural Frankenstein grinning at them.
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