picture credit- Debasis sen
Gargi Raut in Eden Gardens
Test cricket returned to one of the most storied venues after a wait of six long years. Ahead of the first Test between India and South Africa, Eden Gardens saw a buzzing buildup, with the first three days sold out well in advance. Fans and pundits alike anticipated a cracking contest but no one predicted a two-and-a-half day finish. While there was a flurry of wickets in the match, the public blamed it on the pitch curator for dishing out a rank turner, when in fact it was the Indian management that requested such a tailor-made surface.
The context of India’s home Test performances lay the foundation of this request. India faced off against New Zealand in a three-match Test series in October-November. The management played the Kiwis on turners and in turn received a whitewash at the hands of the hosts. Something that had never happened in Indian cricket history before.
Then, with a young team and Shubman Gill at the helm, they travelled to England for a five-match Test series. With the series largely played on flat wickets, India were able to level the series 2-2. Back to India for a two-match Test rubber against a depleted West Indies, the Windies surprised India by pushing the game to Day 5 in the final Test. That was also a direct result of an error in judgement when India enforced the follow on. The two home series—New Zealand and West Indies – seem to have scarred the Indian management, subsequently leading them to not put faith in their specialists and having the notion that if they play the opposition on rank turners, they will be able to roll them over.
In the buildup of the Eden Test, there was a monumental attention to detail regarding the pitch. The day the Indian team landed from Australia, following a white-ball series, head coach Gautam Gambhir and Sitanshu Kotak had a look at the wicket. Every practice session consisted of at least an hour spent near the wicket. The Indian management was constantly in talk with Sujan Mukherjee, with the BCCI chief curator Ashish Bhowmick in tow.
In an exclusive conversation with RevSportz, Mukherjee, ahead of the Test admitted that he’s doing everything in his power to satisfy the Indian management and wholeheartedly believed that India should get the home advantage. While he was hesitant about creating a rank turner, a request which he had to fulfill, having not watered the pitch for the final two days ahead of the match, the fear of India not being able to bat on a tricky surface materialised again.
While Gautam Gambhir bluntly stated, “This is exactly the pitch we were looking for, and the pitch curator was very very helpful. This is what happens when you don’t play well”, his defence of the curator didn’t help a great deal as social media started flooding with comments of abuse at Mukherjee. In another conversation, post the game, Mukherjee, dejectedly said that he believes his and Eden Gardens’ image has been damaged.
At the end of the day, Sujan is a man that is standing between the expectations of a cricket-crazy nation and a powerful team management. He works with soil, water and sunlight, he can’t guarantee outcomes. But every time there is a collapse, the pitch curator is the easiest target and even though the Head Coach put his neck out to admit that the pitch was the management’s demand, the public has outsourced accountability to a man who can’t defend himself. Sujan cannot control what the players eventually deliver, he simply delivers what he has been told to do.
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