Trust on rank-turners prove to be India’s undoing once again as they face harsh reality check about their spin prowess.
India face reality check for their bull-headed trust in pitch preparation.
A challenging, uneven field at Eden Gardens has sparked two concurrent discussions during the three days of the inaugural India-South Africa Test match and its aftermath.
The question of whether such surfaces are suitable for Test cricket has already been covered on these pages.
The question of whether such pitches are beneficial for India became more pressing as South Africa consolidated their commanding advantage on the third morning. Is it truly in their best interests to release tunes with abrupt turns and uneven bounce right away?
India undoubtedly believes this. Their head coach, Gautam Gambhir, has stated that he and the management of the Indian team requested a surface similar to what they received from curator Sujan Mukherjee.
Over the course of the four innings, no team reached 200, and Temba Bavuma struck the only half-century of the game. His undefeated 55 in the third innings helped South Africa set a target of 124, which proved to be well beyond India in conditions when both survival and run-scoring were risky.
Even though there was plenty of turn available from the very first afternoon, irregular bounce made batting particularly difficult because batters could never feel comfortable at the crease. Only one score was higher than 40, while twelve scores were higher than 20.
India’s preferences for home Test pitches have fluctuated over the past ten years. They won a four-Test series 3-0 in 2015 when they were a youthful, emerging team playing a South Africa team with a stellar away record. Two of the Tests were played on square turners. This turned out to be an anomaly, as India established a strong home record over the course of the following five years on fields that typically allowed both teams to to post sizeable first-innings totals.
However, India had to reconsider their approach after England won a Test match in Chennai in 2021 thanks to a huge first-innings total that India was unable to equal. This was the first home Test in the post-pandemic era. Then, even before India started their first innings, the wicket started to give severe turn; winning the toss gave England a significant edge.
In an attempt to reduce toss advantage, India resumed asking curators for pitches that turned right away.
Given India’s recent performance on such surfaces, Gambhir continued to believe that changing tracks reduced the impact of the toss was intriguing. In their last three home Test matches on tracks featuring an early turn—against New Zealand in Pune and Mumbai last year, and now against South Africa—they have lost the toss and have since lost both games.
India has had to bat fourth each of the three times they have lost the toss. Even on flatter subcontinental pitches, this is typically a drawback. Pitches with early turn and/or unequal bounce frequently provide teams with their only opportunity to have simple batting conditions, which may only last for a single session.
Another discernible trend can be found in the recent history of square turners in India. They have typically happened in series where India has a high opinion of their opponents, like the series against South Africa in 2015. The 2017 series against Australia, which took place at the end of a protracted home season that was primarily played on flat fields, started on one of those fields in Pune, where a loss forced them to abandon that strategy.
South Africa’s attack in Kolkata had Harmer, Maharaj, and the incredibly talented left-arm quick Marco Jansen. However, they were without Kagiso Rabada, their greatest fast bowler, and batting all-rounder Wiaan Mulder was taking the new ball in the first innings. In terms of depth and variation under Indian conditions, this attack most definitely fell short of India’s. And most definitely not for familiarity with Indian conditions.
On paper, there was a clear gap between these attacks, but India’s choice of pitch helped to close it. They had committed the same act against New Zealand the previous year, with disastrous results. They decided to try it once more.
There’s something to admire in India’s bull-headed trust in their pitch strategy. But is it really doing their cause any good?