The nature of the Eden Gardens pitch will again evoke interest leading into India’s first Test against reigning world champions South Africa, beginning on Friday.
In the two Ranji Trophy matches the Eden has hosted so far this season, the two tracks that were used seemed more on the slower side and aided batsmen more, with little purchase for the quicks. Will the surface for the Test be anything different?
Eden curator Sujan Mukherjee, however, promised a sporting wicket. “It will be a good wicket.
“It’s going to be a good sporting wicket with help for both batters and bowlers. There will be assistance on offer for the spinners as well, and that can happen early as well,” Mukherjee told The Telegraph on Sunday.
Neutral curator Taposh Chatterjee, too, has been overseeing the pitch preparation since his arrival last Friday, while inputs will also be provided by the BCCI’s chief curator Ashish Bhowmick.
The nature of the Eden surface hadn’t gone down well at all with the Bengal team as its pacers hardly got any assistance from it in the matches against Uttarakhand and Gujarat. Senior pacer Mohammed Shami had gone on record to express his displeasure with the pitches prepared.
Keeping that in mind, the Eden curator and groundsmen are quite conscious about ensuring the Indian team management doesn’t see red when it comes to the 22-yard strip. According to sources in the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), while a good bit of mowing was done in the preceding days, the pitch hasn’t been watered since Saturday.
“It’s difficult to say how much watering will be done going into the Test. Maybe a little bit on Wednesday,” an insider said.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir may visit the Eden on Monday to have a look at the pitch, before India begin training on Tuesday.
“The home team will obviously want a wicket of their choice. So, the matter has to be dealt with tactically,” the CAB insider added.