No demons in the wicket, this wasn't unplayable, says Gautam Gambhir after India suffer another home defeat

Apart from South Africa captain Temba Bavuma who scored a gritty half-century on Sunday morning, batsmen from both teams struggled to adjust to the challenges offered by the track that saw variable bounce from Day 1. In the fourth innings, Washington Sundar was the lone Indian batsman to face more than 50 deliveries taking 92 balls for his 31.

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Gambhir pointed out that players who had a solid defensive base and temperament were able to play on the pitch. “First of all, there were no demons in the wicket. This wasn’t an unplayable wicket. Temba Bavuma also made runs, Axar also made runs, Washi also scored. The point is if we always talk about the wicket which you call a turning track, if you see the stats, the majority of wickets were taken by seamers. We always talk about how the wicket is behaving but you’ll see, out of the 40 wickets, the majority have been taken by seamers. This was a pitch where your technique, mental toughness and temperament was tested. If you grind and bat long enough, you can make runs. If you try to play attacking, it’ll be difficult. The players who defended well, like KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, scored runs. I already said that if your defence is solid, it’s not a pitch where you cannot make runs. We have played on tracks like these before as well,” he said.

After suffering whitewash against New Zealand at home last year, ahead of the home season captain Shubman Gill had revealed this team would prefer to play on pitches which help them play long, grinding cricket like they did in England. But just after the Test series against West Indies, as the World Test Championship winners arrived, India went for a different track at Eden. And Gambhir said, this is the sort of pitch that they wanted at Kolkata.

“When there was so much turn on offer, the majority of the wickets went to the seamers. Point is that you should know how to play turn. And this is what we asked for and this is what we got. The curator was very supportive and I still believe, irrespective of how the wicket was, 123 was chaseable. It might not be a wicket that is very, very flamboyant where you can play those big shots but if you are willing to put your head down, this is a wicket where you can score,” he added.

With questions constantly coming back to the pitch issue, a slightly irked Gambhir said that if India had won the match, there would not be so much chatter about the playing surface.

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