India’s national cricket team’s great batsman Sunil Gavaskar has come out in support of head coach Gautam Gambhir over his comments made on the pitch of Eden Gardens, Kolkata for the first Test.
Sunil Gavaskar agreed with Gautam Gambhir’s assessment that there were no demons in the Eden Gardens pitch and criticized the Indian batsmen for their dreadful performance in the first Test against the South Africa national cricket team.
Completely agree with Gautam Gambhir. Target of 124 could have been achieved – Sunil Gavaskar
The Kolkata Test match between India and South Africa became a topic of discussion among the fans due to the pitch made for the game.
The surface was extremely bowling friendly as it turned from day one and had uneven bounce, which made life hell for the batsmen. South Africa scored 159 and 153 runs in their two innings, while India scored 189 runs in the first innings and had a target of 124 runs to chase.
However, India could not chase down this small target and were all out for 93 runs, suffering an embarrassing 30-run defeat and falling 0-1 down in the series. Players like Kris Srikkanth, Harbhajan Singh, Dale Steyn and Michael Vaughan blamed the pitch for India’s defeat, but Gautam Gambhir instead criticized the batsmen and said that there was no devil in the pitch.
Sunil Gavaskar agreed with Gautam Gambhir and said that the target of 124 runs should have been achieved by the Indian batsmen at any cost.
Sunil Gavaskar told India Today, “Completely agree with Gautam Gambhir. The target of 124 runs could have been achieved on this pitch. There was no question about it.”
“A lot of people talk about what the pitch was doing, but if you look at what Simon Harmer was doing in an over, how many of his balls were turning? He was mixing it up really well. He bowled straight and got the odd ball turning,” he said.
I completely agree with Gautam Gambhir that there was nothing wrong with the pitch – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar said that the surface at Eden Gardens was not a dangerous turning pitch and only the odd ball took turn.
“So, it was not a dangerous turning pitch. It was a pitch on which you needed to bat as if you were playing a five-day Test, not a 50-over match or Twenty20, where after three dot balls, you try to play break-out-of-jail shots. That’s the point. Given the kind of batting line-up India had, a hundred and twenty-four should have been achieved with at least five wickets in hand Was,” he said.
“I completely agree with Gautam Gambhir that there was nothing wrong with the pitch. The oddball turned on the third day, that’s normal. How many balls from Maharaj turned? How many balls from Jadeja or Axar turned?”
Indian batsmen had the example of Temba Bavuma-Sunil Gavaskar
The great batsman further said that the Indian batsmen displayed poor technique and temperament, due to which they faced defeat.
He said, “People are calling it a spinning pitch. There was nothing dangerous in it. Bad technique and bad temperament have brought us to this situation.”
Sunil Gavaskar also praised Temba Bavuma, who scored the only half-century in the innings, and said that the Indian batsmen should have learned from him.
Gavaskar said, “The Indian batsmen had the example of Temba Bavuma. You can forget what happened the previous day, but Bavuma had played an innings of exceptional character just a few hours earlier. He batted with real flair, technique and dedication. At least that should have been in their minds.”
Also read: BCCI finalizes WPL 2026 schedule and venues
