The former India opener Wasim Jaffer added that the current Indian team management would tell curators to prepare surfaces like those on which Virat Kohli had played as captain. This was after India lost the first test against South Africa by 30 runs in three days, making his statement.
The pitch at the legendary Eden Gardens Kolkata, where its first Test was being played in six years, was decried on the grounds that it was excessively turny. Nonetheless, the head coach of India, Gautam Gambhir, said at the post-match news conference that it was the kind of pitch they insisted on, and had to blame his batters to be better at the crease.
According to Jaffer, the team has not been taught by mistakes they committed after their embarrassing 0-3 series defeat by New Zealand at home in 2024. He remembered the 2016-17 domestic season with Kohli being the team leader and proposed that the management consider going back to such fields.
“Looks like we haven’t learned our lesson from NZ series loss. The gap between our spinners and opposition spinners reduces on pitches like this. We need to go back to classic Indian pitches, like the ones in 2016-17 season when Virat was captain and Eng and NZ toured,” wrote Jaffer on his ‘X’ account.
After 15 years, India lost a home Test match with South Africa. The Asian powerhouses will be keen to recover hard when they take on the World Test Champions in the second Test and it starts on Saturday, November 22 in the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.
