By Sirshendu Panth, IANS,
Kolkata: The Eden Gardens track continued to attract comments Sunday, but the roles were reversed. The Indians who seemed unhappy with the 22-yard strip till Saturday, called it a good wicket Sunday at the end of the first day’s play of the second cricket Test.
The South Africans, who were all praise for the track earlier, said after the opening day’s play that “it was not a normal Indian wicket.”
India seized the initiative on the first day by claiming seven South African wickets in the post-tea session. Once cruising at 218 for one, the tourists finished the day at 266 for nine, losing six middle order batsmen for a mere ten runs at one stage.
Indian coach Gary Kirsten said it was a very good wicket, and had a “very good carry.”
He said there was less grass on the strip Sunday than what it had Saturday, which prompted the hosts to go into the game with two spinners and an equal number of pacers.
“Yes, we would have liked a third seamer. But seeing that the wicket has lot less grass than yesterday, we took two spinners. The balance of the team does not permit us to opt for five bowlers,” said Kirsten.
South African opener Alviro Petersen, who cracked a ton on Test debut, said: “It’s not a normal Indian wicket. It’s also not that easy to bat on. But it’s a little bit of both.”
However, he kept his final assessment of the pitch on hold. “One day gone in the Test match only, so there is a lot of cricket to be played. I think we can really judge when both teams have batted on it. And then see what the wicket does.”
He said on a normal Indian wicket the ball gets scuffed up quickly. “There was a little bit of grass on it. So, even in the 40th over, the ball was still swinging normally.”
Petersen virtually threw a challenge to the Indian batsmen saying he would like them face up to the South African fast bowlers. “We saw (Ishant) Sharma bowling a decent spell of short balls, and that was after 40 overs. The ball was still carrying through. So I would like to see our fast bowlers on that track.”
In the first Test at Nagpur, South African quick Dale Steyn had demolished the Indian batting capturing ten wickets.
Pitch curator Prabir Mukherjee said he was “satisfied” with the way the pitch behaved.
“The wicket is as I wanted it to be. The Indians got wicket after tea because they bowled well. The wicket had something for both the batsmen and bowlers. There were two hundreds and nine wickets fell. I am sure it will last five days,” Mukherjee told IANS.