India’s national cricket team’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has openly refuted head coach Gautam Gambhir’s views on the pitch prepared for the first Test against the South Africa national cricket team.
Sitanshu Kotak said that no one wanted the kind of surface that was prepared by the curators for the opening match of the Test series at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Gautam said that he took all the blame on himself – Sitanshu Kotak
India’s decision to prepare a bowling-friendly track at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens backfired against the Proteas and they suffered a humiliating 30-run defeat.
The Kolkata pitch became a major point of discussion as many experts criticized the Gautam Gambhir-led team management for demanding such a poor surface despite having a strong team.
Michael Vaughan, Harbhajan Singh, Kris Srikkanth, Dale Steyn and other former cricketers said that the pitch played a key role in India’s defeat, but Gautam Gambhir believed otherwise.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Gautam Gambhir did not bother the curator and clearly stated that he wanted exactly the pitch that was offered, and also attacked the batsmen’s inability to play well.
Now batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has refuted Gautam Gambhir’s statement. He said that Gambhir took the blame on himself because he did not want to point fingers at the curator. Kotak said:
“See, in the last match wicket, Gowtham said that he took all the blame on himself. He said that he took the blame because he felt that he should not put the blame on the curator.”
i am telling you the truth. No one wanted this to happen – Sitanshu Kotak
Sitanshu Kotak said that no one wants a pitch where the match ends in two and a half days and he is hopeful that spin will come into play after three days. He elaborated:
“Now, what happened in the last match, after a day it felt like it was falling apart. There was a little mud [that came up after the ball pitched]You all can see that, that was unexpected, Even if spin was expected, it was after 3 days or in the evening on the third day, Sometimes the weather and sometimes even the curators did not want this, i am telling you the truth, Nobody wanted this to happen,”
“Now, right from the second day, the wicket had become very dry. Or the top layer of the wicket had become very dry. And the bottom layer was very hard because there was too much rolling. Maybe because of that, it happened – that’s how I understand it. Otherwise, in fact, you can ask the curator, no one has said that the match should end in two days or turn square.
“I can tell you that since I have come here, it has been the same thing every time we play a Test match for 4-4.5 days,” Kotak said.
We just need a little spin because spin is our strength – Sitanshu Kotak
Sitanshu Kotak further said that they need some help for the spinners from the surface as that is their strength, but flatly refused to blame the pitch for India’s defeat at the Eden Gardens against the Temba Bavuma-led side.
“We just need a little bit of spin because spin is our strength. On the first day, fast bowlers on the second day.” [always] Stay in the game. Even if you watch the Ahmedabad test [against West Indies]…Delhi Test was a bit slow. But otherwise, fast bowlers always take wickets,” Kotak offered.
“In Kolkata, it was amazing, when, actually, the soil (mud) was coming out, it was amazing, no team asked for it [on the] Day two, we want it to bang [puff up]“Anyone will understand that this is not rocket science,”
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