“Indian camp…”- Former India player blames hosts for Kolkata surface in IND vs SA 1st Test

The president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), Sourav Ganguly, came to the defense of the Eden Gardens 22-yard, which was being used for the opening game of the two-match Test series between India and South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. India could take only a tiny lead of 30 runs in the first innings after bundling out the Proteas for 159. 

In the first innings, Jasprit Bumrah ended with fine figures of 5/27 in 14 overs, including five maidens at an economy rate of under two. Mohammad Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav shared four wickets between them while Axar Patel ended with 1/21 in six overs. Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain, revealed that the Blue Brigade management requested them for that respective pitch.

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“The pitch is what the Indian camp wanted. This is what happens when you don’t water the pitch for four days. Curator Sujan Mukherjee can’t be blamed. They haven’t asked for it yet, so I can’t answer that question. It looks like a very good one.” Ganguly expressed during the interaction on News18 Bangla.

Sourav Ganguly reacts to India’s request for IND vs SA opening Kolkata surface

In the second innings of the clash, Temba Bavuma recorded a fine knock of 55 runs and remained unbeaten to set a target of 124 runs in the fourth innings for the home side, who lost Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul early in the chase and looked under tremendous pressure.

“Yeah, look, I mean, to be honest with you, even we didn’t expect a wicket to deteriorate so quickly. We all thought when we watched that first couple of hours that it was a good wicket, so it did deteriorate quite quickly, which was unexpected.” Ganguly addressed.

“That’s the beauty sometimes of playing in the subcontinent. You need to be able to adapt and react to conditions quite quickly, and that’s the sort of challenge that we’re facing here at the moment.” The former Indian left-handed opening batter shed light during the same discussion.