Gautam Gambhir has been heavily criticized for the wicket he asked for at Eden Gardens during the first Test between India and South Africa. The pitch at Eden Gardens experienced heavy criticism for its falling apart and being essentially useless for the Indian team itself.
Nevertheless, CAB President Sourav Ganguly has firmly rejected any implication of his involvement, continuously asserting that they have merely facilitated the requests.
The 1st Test was a very poor spectacle as the two teams could not manage to reach even 200 in one of the four innings, and the match concluded in three days. Temba Bavuma was the only player to score a half-century in the whole match.
Sourav Ganguly disowns CAB’s involvement in the Eden pitch.
Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain and current CAB President, told India Today that not only was the state association but also BCCI curators responsible for the fate of the Eden Gardens pitch four days before the India-South Africa Test match, and the CAB president was not involved in this at all.
“They come and take over the wickets from the BCCI four days before the Test match. We have our own curator (Sujan Mukherjee) who has been up to the mark for a long time and was established by the association. The requests are made, and you keep the requests. That’s what it is,” he added.
“India must play on Good wickets than what they got in Kolkata “
Said the ex BCCI president, confirmed the not-so-good surface and went further to say India should be backing up its quality by playing on more balanced surfaces at least at home. It is already being mentioned that India shows off to be really good when the going gets tough with their batting that’s why they were England.
Sourav Ganguly said, “It wasn’t the best, I fully admit that, and I think the top-order, the middle-order batting, you know, deserves much better cricketing surface. It was full house at Eden Gardens for the three days, and I really believe that Gautam Gambhir and his team in India must play on much better wickets than the ones they did in Eden Gardens.”
He further mentioned that Ganguly’s call for such a surface was the outcome of Indian team management’s request. He also noted that the head coach Gautam Gambhir confessed that they got the surface exactly how they wanted it.
“Sometimes it happens that we are powerless, and we try hard to cater the request of the team and the coach, and the captain. And that’s what we do, so that’s what it is. And you’ve heard Gautam Gambhir say after the game that he wanted that sort of a pitch and was given that sort of a pitch. So you keep the captain and the coach’s request,” he elaborated.
Sourav Ganguly speaks out against Gautam Gambhir’s removal
The controversy has been around Gautam Gambhir’ coaching ability all the while the Indian team has lost four of their last six home matches against the SENA countries. Ganguly also wanted the Indian management not to bow down to the WTC pressures and trust their bowlers.
Sourav Ganguly who was quite emphatic about the no-sacking of Gautam Gambhir stage-wise, meanwhile pointed out the excellent batting by both Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill in the England series.
“Coach Gautam and captain Shubman performed splendidly in England on batting-friendly tracks and I strongly assert that they could be as good in India as well”