'No one wanted this' - Kotak slams Eden pitch

India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak contradicted Gautam Gambhir's views of the Eden Gardens pitch, questioning its quality in the lead up to the second Test in Guwahati. The pitch in question had unpredictable bounce on it from Day 1, with some balls from spinners and pacers taking off even from a fuller length.

Gambhir had dead-batted those concerns, saying the surface was exactly what the team wanted and that the issue lay in India's spin temperament. Kotak however, revealed that the head coach took the blame on himself even as he felt that the pitch crumbled too soon, and claimed that it was one that nobody wanted.

"See, in the last match wicket, Gautam said that he took all the blame on himself. He said that he took the blame because he felt that he should not put the blame on the curators," Kotak said. "Now, what happened in the last match, after a day, it felt like it was crumbling. There was a little bit of soil [that came up after the ball pitched]. All of you can see that. That was not expected. Even if the spin was expected, it was after 3 days or on the third day in the evening. Sometimes, the weather, sometimes, even the curators did not want it. I am telling you the truth. No one wanted it to be like this."

The opening day of the fixture saw Jasprit Bumrah pick his 16th five-wicket haul in Tests, but already the ball was misbehaving off different lengths and making it tough for batters. On Day 2, , and India managed just a 30-run first-innings lead.

"Now, from the second day itself, the wicket became too dry. Or the top layer of the wicket became too dry. And the layer underneath was very hard because there was a lot of rolling. Probably because of that, this happened - that's how I understand it. Otherwise, genuinely, you can ask the curator, no one has said that the match should be over in two days or there should be square turn.

"I can tell you from the time I have come here, every time it is the same thing that we play a Test match for 4-4.5 days," Kotak added.

Since his appointment in January 2024, India have played 13 Tests at home, with eight of them going to the fourth day and three to Day 5. Among them are the New Zealand fixture in Bangalore, where Day 1 was washed out and the Kanpur match against Bangladesh where Day 2 and 3 were lost to rain. Kotak reiterated that the requirement from the team was for there to be a little spin but not the way it showed up in Kolkata.

"We just need a little spin because spin is our strength. On the first day, on the second day, fast bowlers [always] stay in the game. Even if you see the Ahmedabad Test [against West Indies]... The Delhi Test was a little slow. But otherwise, fast bowlers have always taken wickets," Kotak offered.

"In Kolkata, it was surprising, when, actually, the mitti (soil) was coming out, that was surprising, no team would ask that [on the] second day, we want it to blast [puff up]. Anybody would understand that, it's not rocket science," he added.

Having said all of this, Kotak was quick to admit that India's loss was entirely on them and not the conditions at play. "You can't say, the wicket was like that, so we lost. We lost because they [South Africa] played better cricket than us, or we didn't play the cricket to our best potential. But, here [Guwahati] also, whatever wicket it can be, it doesn't matter, we have to make sure, we play good cricket, and we try and win the game."

Invariably, the focus will sit squarely on what kind of pitch Guwahati serves up for its maiden Test. Only Mohammed Siraj from the current squad has any red-ball experience at the venue. Adding to the uncertainty is the match surface itself - a red-soil pitch carrying a generous green tinge two days out from the game.

"This wicket [in Guwahati] probably will play better, I think, it will play better," Kotak said. "Now, how much seam movement, how much live grass is there at the end of tomorrow evening before they cover the wicket, and what kind of weather we'll have from morning till the evening... which I also personally don't know, so it will be very difficult to comment on that. But it should be a good wicket, it should be 4-5 days of good cricket."