Former India captain and current Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav Ganguly has distanced himself from the Eden Gardens pitch controversy, stating that BCCI-appointed curators took over the surface four days before the India-South Africa Test.
The Kolkata Test ended after two and a half days, with South Africa defeating India to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. India failed to pursue 124 and crumbled for 93, the first time they have been bowled out for less than 100 runs in the fourth innings in a Test.
Despite the Kolkata pitch offering turn and uneven bounce from day one of the Test, India head coach Gautam Gambhir insisted that the surface has no demons and instead, the batters were not up to mark with their techniques on a challenging pitch.
Ganguly made it clear that the CAB had no direct involvement in preparing the final test surface once the board's team arrived.
"No, no, I don't get involved at all. Curators from the BCCI come and take over the wickets four days before the Test match. We have our own curator (Sujan Mukherjee) as well, who's done exceptionally well for a long time. The requests are made, and you keep the requests. That's what it is,” Ganguly told India Today.
Sourav Ganguly was not afraid to admit that the Eden Gardens surface was subpar and did not help India's batting performance.
"It was not the greatest, I'll have to completely admit, and I think the top-order batting and the middle-order batting, you know, deserve a better cricketing surface. It was a full house at Eden Gardens for those three days, and I completely believe that Gautam Gambhir and his team in India must play on much better wickets than what they played at Eden Gardens," he said.
Eden Gardens curator Sujan Mukherjee stated that he just executed the instructions given to him by the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management.
"Sometimes it is beyond our control, and we try to keep the request of the team and the coach, and the captain. And that is what we do, so that's what it is. And you've heard Gautam Gambhir say after the game that he wanted that sort of a pitch and was given that sort of a pitch. So you keep the captain's and the coach's request," he said.
