Sourav Ganguly blames Gautam Gambhir & Co amid Eden Gardens pitch outcry; ‘this pitch is what the Indian camp wanted’

Former India captain and the current president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) Sourav Ganguly has directly put the blame on the likes of skipper Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir after the pitch at the Eden Gardens in the ongoing first Test against South Africa has been the talking point in the last three days.

The 22 yards offered variable turn and and uneven bounce that troubled the batters since the opening day as 27 wickets fell on the first two days. With the match finished inside three days, the Eden Gardens strip earned severe criticism from the former cricketers like Harbhajan Singh and Michael Vaughan who called it a "mockery of Test cricket".

In fact, batting has been difficult from the High Court end as some dark patches were spotted on the track since the beginning of the Test. Amid all the outcry, Ganguly informed that the pitch was prepared according to the wish-list of the Indian team management.

"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 to News18 Bangla.

What did Sourav Ganguly earlier said?

After South Africa were dismissed for 159 in the first innings, the Indians could manage no more than 189 in their first essay. South Africa were all out for 159 in the second innings, giving India a target of 124 runs. In fact, it took three days for a batter to score a fifty on this track, with South African captain Temba Bavuma being the only lucky man.

It is worth mentioning that Ganguly had stated last week in an event that there was no request from the Indian team management as far as the nature of the pitch is concerned for the first Test. It proves that things changed as the Test match grew closer.

Ahead of the match, Gill and Gambhir had long chats with pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee on match day minus one and two.

India suffer humiliating defeat in Kolkata

Off-spinner Simon Harmer led with a four-wicket haul as South Africa defeated India by 30 runs in the first Test to take an unassailable 1-0 lead. It was SA's first Test win in India in 15 years.

India were bowled out for 93/9 with skipper Gill declared unavailable to take part in the remainder of the match with a neck injury, in the chase of 124 to win on the third day of the first Test.

Simon Harmer took 4/21 while Marco Jansen returned 7-3-15-2. Washington Sundar made a valiant 31 off 92 balls but India’s response was meek on a pitch which favoured bowlers.