Gautam Gambhir is being criticized a lot for the wicket he asked for in the first Test of India vs South Africa at Eden Gardens. The Eden Gardens pitch, which hosted the India vs South Africa 1st Test, was criticized and considered a rank turner, which had a significant impact on the Indians themselves.
However, CAB president Sourav Ganguly has consistently denied taking any responsibility and claimed that he had only fulfilled the requests that were made to him.
Ever since India played on a rank turner pitch at the Eden Gardens, many former cricketers as well as cricket analysts have blamed CAB and their president Sourav Ganguly for such an unconventional track.
The match ended just three days after it started and both the teams could not go beyond the score of 200 even once in four innings. Temba Bavuma was the only one to score a half-century in the match.
Sourav Ganguly denies CAB role in Eden pitch, claims BCCI curator took charge
Former Indian captain and current CAB president Sourav Ganguly clarified to India Today that not only the state association but also the BCCI curator took control of the Eden Gardens pitch four days before the India-South Africa Test match.
When asked whether the Indian team management consulted him before preparing the pitch, he told India Today, “No, no, I don’t get involved at all.” He acknowledged that it was a very challenging surface, but never accepted blame.
“The BCCI curator comes and takes charge of the wickets four days before a Test match. We also have our own curator (Sujan Mukherjee), who has done exceptionally well for a long period of time. Requests are made, and you keep the requests. That’s it,” he said.
The former BCCI president said, “India should play on much better wickets than the one played at Eden Gardens.”
The former BCCI president admitted that the pitch is not the best and reiterated that India should support its quality by playing on better pitches with more balanced surfaces at home. It has already been seen that India impresses with strong batting performances on competitive pitches, as they did in England.
“It wasn’t the greatest, I have to completely admit, and I think top-order batting, middle-order batting, you know, deserves a better cricketing surface. There was a housefull at Eden Gardens for those three days, and I fully believe that Gautam Gambhir and his team in India should be playing on much better wickets than the ones they played on at Eden Gardens,” Sourav Ganguly said.
He further said that Ganguly took the decision to prepare such a surface on the request of the Indian team management. He also revealed that head coach Gautam Gambhir admitted that he got the pitch he wanted.
He said, “Sometimes it is beyond our control and we try to fulfill the request of the team, the coach and the captain. And that is what we do, so it is what it is. And you heard Gautam Gambhir saying after the game that he wanted that kind of pitch and he was given that kind of pitch. So you fulfill the request of the captain and the coach.”
Sourav Ganguly raised his voice against the dismissal of Gautam Gambhir
There has been debate over Gautam Gambhir’s skills as the head coach of the Indian team, as they have lost four of their last 6 home matches against SENA nations. Ganguly had asked the Indian management to trust their bowlers and avoid the pressure of the WTC.
“There is no question of dismissing Gautam Gambhir at this stage,” Sourav Ganguly said, highlighting the stellar performances of both Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill in the England series.
“Gautam as a coach and Shubman as a captain performed exceptionally well on good batting pitches in England and I strongly believe that they can do well in India as well.
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