India Vs South Africa, 1st Test Review: Long Eden Gardens Wait Sullied By Dubious Pitch

The iconic Eden Gardens, one of the best-known Test match centres in the world and once called the ‘Lord’s of the East,’ on par with the Melbourne Cricket Ground with its 90,000-strong crowds, finally had a Test match again after a long wait of six years. Like the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, Eden Gardens was known some years ago for its New Year’s Day Test match, played almost every year, over the New Year weekend.

It was said that a cricketer’s education was incomplete till he played a Test match at Eden Gardens, in front of that knowledgeable, passionately vociferous crowd that once ‘shouted out’ Ian Chappell on 99 in a Test and brought a 6’7” Tony Greig down to his knees with folded hands, begging to be allowed to concentrate, as he neared a century.

But all that is in the past now, a part of the game’s folklore, known only to the generation that filled the stands back in the late 1960s and 70s, standing patiently in long, serpentine queues from the crack of dawn, so as to be inside the stadium in time for the toss.

Test matches don’t fill stadiums anymore in today’s India, but even so, a decent 40,000-strong crowd turned up to cheer India, on the first morning. A crowd that had waited for six years for this Test match at their beloved ‘Eden.’

Two-and-a-half days later it was all over, with yet another Indian defeat in a home Test, on a sub-par Eden Gardens pitch. And it’ll probably be a while again before the venue hosts another Test match, which is such a pity.

Losing to visiting spinners is becoming a habit for India in home series of late. They've lost four of the last six Tests at home - and the other two were against the West Indies. No disrespect to them, but just a reflection of the terminal decline of their cricket.

Surface Tension

What of the pitch at Eden Gardens? From the very first hour of the first morning it was behaving like a fifth-day turner with uneven bounce. If one kept low, the next one from a spinner climbed steeply to hit the batter’s helmet and a third one went flying over the in-field to the boundary. A batter could never really feel settled on such a wicket and it was just a question of time before a delivery came along with your name on it.

But it is also a fact that our batters have struggled against the turning ball at home in recent years. Ajaz Patel of New Zealand took 10 wickets in an innings in India 4 years ago. And before that England's Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann had turned in dominant performances. As did Michael Santner of New Zealand last year, and now, a not-so-well-known Simon Harmer.

Harmer has featured in South African Test sides sporadically, although he’s been a consistent performer in the English county circuit.

But then, when you're an off spinner who is turning the ball big into the right handers, on a pitch that's spinning as much as this one was, you needn't have played much Test cricket earlier, to run through the Indian batting twice in two days. Or so it seemed.

The hosts sorely missed someone prepared to use their feet and get to the pitch of the ball and smother the unpredictable lateral movement off the wicket. They preferred to stay in their crease instead and allowed the Proteas spinners to dominate.

In that far away 1969 Test match against Australia at Eden Gardens, Ian Chappell did that, very effectively, to blunt the spin of the deadly trio of Erapalli Prasanna, Bishan Singh Bedi and S Venkataraghavan. He would say later that Prasanna was the most difficult bowler he had played against.

All of which makes you wonder why can't India trust their players and make good, sporting, cricketing strips that would produce an even contest between bat and ball? They have a wonderful young team, one of the best in the world, with good fast bowlers, spinners and batters. They have just returned from a marvellous Test series in England, one of the best of all time, where a number of young batters and bowlers did wonderfully well.

So where is the need for all this chopping and changing and preparing rank turners that end matches in two-and-a-half days? Just let them play! And may the better team win, fair and square.

Temba Bavuma proved that you could still score a 50 on this wicket if you were determined enough. And lucky, of course. He won South Africa a Test match yet again, almost off his own bat. Their 10th victory of 11 games played under his watch, and the first one after the WTC final, although that was more of Aiden Markram's match, but without a hobbling Bavuma keeping him company at the other end, he couldn't have done it. What a gutsy player!

Indian Batting In Disarray

As for India, with Shubman Gill absent hurt in the second innings and Dhruv Jurel the only specialist batter left in the middle order, the writing was always on the wall. After Jurel threw away his wicket, it was just a matter of time before the team fell apart.

Yet, it is not as if they don't have the talent that can easily fill up those slots in the middle order, especially at home.

I can understand trying out different combinations in T20Is because there is a T20I World Cup to prepare for, but in Test matches, that too at home, disturbing a set team only harms your chances of qualifying for the next WTC final, unnecessarily.

Not to mention the terrible feeling of losing in two and half days to a visiting side, with the decision to prepare a turner, backfiring spectacularly on you. Yet again.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author. The author is a veteran Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force, who has played Ranji Trophy for Services.