India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak on Thursday (November 20) questioned the quality of the Eden Gardens pitch served for the first Test against South Africa.

The surface came under severe scrutiny after the Test match was over inside three days. The hosts suffered a shocking 30-run defeat, failing to chase a paltry target of 124 runs on a crumbling wicket.

Addressing the media after India’s defeat in Kolkata, head coach Gautam Gambhir admitted that the team management had asked for a spin-friendly pitch.

Ahead of the second Test in Guwahati, Kotak shared his thoughts on the Eden track, contrasting to those offered by Gambhir earlier.

Kotak also revealed that the head coach took the blame on himself even as he felt that the pitch deteriorated too soon.

"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. 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," Kotak said, as quoted by Cricbuzz.

"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," he added.

This was India’s fourth loss in last six home Tests, stretching back to the 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand on turning tracks last year.

The batting coach reiterated that they wanted the pitch to assist tweakers a little 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 stated.

"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 remarked.

However, Kotak was quick to acknowledge that India's loss was entirely on them and not the nature of pitch.

"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."

With India facing a must win situation in the second Test to avoid another series loss on home soil, the surface at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati will be the center of attention for next few days.

"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."

(With Cricbuzz Inputs)