Former Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara countered head coach Gautam Gambhir’s claim that the Eden Gardens pitch had no demons and said that the Indian batters were unprepared to play on the turning track. The pitch for the IND vs SA 1st Test has been severely criticised by experts as the game ended in just 3 days and saw most batters struggle. Pujara pointed out that barring Temba Bavuma, no other batter managed to taste success in the 1st Test in Kolkata.
‘Gambhir felt the team wanted such conditions’
Speaking on JioHotstar, Pujara said that Gambhir felt he wanted such conditions for the Indian team but it was very tough to bat on. The veteran said that he disagreed with the head coach that the pitch did not contribute to India’s struggles and added that the batters were clearly unprepared to play on such turning tracks. Pujara further said that India must prepare to play on spin-friendly conditions instead of expecting batting-friendly surfaces as they wanted such kind of pitches at home.
“I disagree with Gauti bhai that the pitch didn’t contribute to India’s batting struggles. He felt the team wanted such conditions, but this surface was clearly tough to bat on, no one except Temba Bavuma managed to cross fifty. Indian batsmen looked underprepared for playing on such turning tracks,” Pujara said.
Further, Pujara claimed that the Eden Gardens surface did not support the conventional Test match style where batters block, grind and build their innings slowly. He said that to do well on such a surface, players have to be aggressive and take calculated risks.
“We may not prefer these kinds of pitches in long-term, but the truth is that traditional Test batting becomes almost impossible on surfaces where you constantly need to innovate just to score,” Pujara added.
