Test cricket returned to the famed Eden Gardens in Kolkata after a six-year hiatus, and the local crowd couldn’t be more pumped for an exciting Test match. What followed was nothing but bitter disappointment for Indian cricket fans, and, to be honest, it was disappointing for Test cricket fans as well.
India played against South Africa in the first of two Test matches here at Eden Gardens. It was the first of the two-test match series, known as the Gandhi-Mandela Trophy, also known as The Freedom Trophy. As usual, most Indian fans expected India to win the match, but the World Test Champions had other ideas in mind. South Africa won the game by 30 runs, but what was shocking for most Indian fans was how the tiny target of 124 was made to look like a massive one owing to the pitch and the conditions.
The pitch rolled out was a peculiar one from the start. It was very different from the ones they played against the West Indies, just before this series. There was seam, swing, uneven bounce, and vicious sideways spin on offer on that pitch from the start of the game. Most people, including experts, who watched the game, suggest that it was not an ideal wicket to play cricket.
South African captain Temba Bavuma won the toss, as Indian captain Shubman Gill’s dry run with the toss continued, and elected to bat first. It wasn’t a bad decision at all then, and it’s not a bad decision to bat first, on hindsight, either. However, when South Africa were bowled out for 159 in their first innings, when the conditions were still decent to bat on, everybody questioned Temba’s decision.
Jasprit Bumrah was the star of the Indian bowling attack, picking up yet another ‘fifer’, the 16th of his Test career, and putting India in a commanding position. India took advantage of that position and started piling on runs, as at one stage, with India 109/2, it looked like they were going to take a massive lead. But the South Africans never stopped believing.
The Proteas kept pushing and kept making it harder for India to score runs, and from 109/2, India were bowled out for 189. They managed a paltry 30-run lead. South Africa, back to bat again, were in trouble immediately at 25/2, 38/3, and 40/4. But as wickets tumbled, South Africa continued to try to string a partnership together to post a decent target for India on that pitch. After 91/7 overnight, South Africa found a decent partnership in Temba Bavuma and their lower-order player, Corbin Bosch.
Bosch and Bavuma put together a 44-run partnership on a pitch that was doing heaps for the bowlers. And India were playing with 4 specialist spinners and 2 specialist pacers. As they were piling up runs, the pitch was getting more and more deteriorated. Despite India’s 6-player bowling line-up, as they struggled to pick up the 8th wicket, India turned to their ‘Man of All Seasons,’ Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah cleaned up Bosch with an absolute ‘spitter’ of a delivery, and then Mohammad Siraj cleaned up the remaining two of the tail.
Temba Bavuma remained Not Out on 55 of 136 deliveries. It was a masterclass innings by the South African captain, made even more special by the fact that he faced, what some are calling, a ‘Body Shaming’ remark from Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah, while discussing an LBW appeal of Bavuma in the first innings, had called him ‘Bauna,’ a Hindi slang word for ‘Dwarf’. Although Bumrah didn’t directly abuse Bavuma, that comment, which was picked up on the stump mic, was still in poor taste, especially coming from a world-class champion player.
In the absence of Shubman Gill, who suffered ‘Neck Spasms’ and was ruled out of the Test match, Vice-Captain Rishabh Pant led the Indian side. South Africa managed to post a total of 153 in the 3rd innings, setting India a target of 124. Many watching the game had already feared and predicted that scoring more than 100 to win the match would be extremely difficult, and that is exactly what happened. India were bowled out for 93, and South Africa won a historic Test match in India after a 15-year wait.
A pretty dejected Indian team walked back to the pavilion, and so did the dejected crowd that had gathered at Eden Gardens, walked back home. Many were upset over the match’s outcome, and some were also concerned over the state of Test match cricket. Those who had brought tickets for Days 4 and 5 were unfortunately unable to watch the game.
As the feeling of melancholy spread over Indian cricket fandom, everyone almost unanimously agreed that the pitch was to blame. Except one person – Gautam Gambhir. At the post-match press conference, he addressed a question from the media and said, “First of all, there were no demons in the wicket. This wasn’t an unplayable wicket. Temba Bavuma also made runs, Axar also made runs, Washi also scored. The point is if we always talk about the wicket which you call a turning track, if you see the stats, the majority of wickets were taken by seamers.”
He further continued, “The point is, you should be able to know how to play turn. And this is what we asked for, and this is what we got. I thought the curator was very supportive, and I still believe, irrespective of how the wicket was… 123 was chaseable.”
Gambhir’s comments come in stark contrast to what most believed to be a track that was unplayable by batters. It offered a lot to seamers and spinners both. This could mean a couple of things. Either Gambhir truly believes in what he said and wants to go against the grain of public perception, or these are just remarks for the media, and there will be serious discussions and amendments being made in closed dressing rooms.
In either condition, India needs to resolve this situation very soon, cause the same tendency to prepare these viciously turning tracks in home conditions, to blow the opposition away entirely, is coming back like a boomerang to hurt India badly. It’s repeatedly backfiring, and that’s why India also lost 0-3 to New Zealand at home last year. The management needs to take a call urgently if they want to continue playing on such tracks and train their batters to improve playing on such surfaces. Or, do they want to get rid of such surfaces and play good cricket on good, flat, or sporting tracks that have something to offer to bowlers and batters?
