IND vs SA: "This is what happens when you don’t water the pitch"- Sourav Ganguly defends Eden Gardens pitch curator amid criticism, puts blame on Team India for...

Sourav Ganguly said that the pitch curator can’t be blamed as he prepared the wicket according to India’s demand.

The pitch prepared for the first test between Indian Cricket Team and South Africa Cricket Team at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata has faced a lot of criticism for favouring bowlers to a large extent with curator Sujan Mukherjee facing the wrath. However, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav Ganguly defended Mukherjee and put the blame on India over the matter.

Across three days so far, the Eden Gardens pitch has heavily supported bowlers, offering a lot of turn and bounce and making the job difficult for batters. After opting to bat first in the match, South Africa registered totals of 159 and 153 across both innings.

Moreover, India also failed to put up a big total in the first innings, getting all out for 189 runs to earn a 30-run lead. Notably, Temba Bavuma has been the only batter to score a half-century till the third innings, as many key batters from both teams were gone for single digits. A total of 15 wickets fell on day 2 of the match on Saturday, and the poor quality of the Eden Gardens’ pitch has become a talk of the town among cricket fans.

The pitch is what the Indian camp wanted: Sourav Ganguly

Amid the controversy, former India captain and CAB president Ganguly has said that the Eden Gardens pitch curator can’t be blamed as he prepared the wicket according to India’s demands. He also added that the pitch has suffered due to the lack of water for four days.

“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,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by News18 Bangla.

Ahead of the match, pitch curator Mukherjee had said that the pitch would offer support to both batters and bowlers and would offer a little bounce. He also revealed that India had asked for a spin-friendly wicket. At the end of day 2, India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel said that they didn’t expect the wicket to deteriorate so quickly.

“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,” Morkel had said.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Cricket on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.