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Kolkata: On November 10, 1991, South Africa walked out to bat at 9 am in the Calcutta smog in front of a record 90,800 people and hobbled their way to 177/8 in 47 overs. The buzz created by a world record crowd could have overwhelmed anybody, but also at work were late autumn elements—the nip in the air, the sun trying to break through the clouds and cook the early morning dew, making the hand-stitched leather ball swing prodigiously. Thirty four years on, the first hour of the morning session remains as intriguingly unpredictable.
It’s the first of many subplots that have always made an Eden Gardens Test in November very interesting. The sun sets earlier in this part of the country so the post-lunch session becomes tricky after three o’clock once the shadows cast by the stands at the High Court End get longer. And while the breeze flowing in from the nearby Hooghly river may not be as unhindered as it was 20 years ago, it does make seamers make a beeline for the High Court End so that they can bowl with the wind.
The first innings at Eden Gardens can be a telling indication here. Barring the West Indies Test in 2011 where India declared at 631/7, not a single first innings score since 2010 has crossed 316, the lowest being 106 by Bangladesh in the Pink Ball Test of 2019.
An even better measure are the individual bowling performances at Eden Gardens. Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble and Bishan Bedi might be the top three wicket takers here but Lance Klusener (8/64 in 1996) and Javagal Srinath (8/86 in 1999) have the two best bowling figures, yet again underlining the advantage seam bowlers get at the Eden.
A vital cog in all this is the pitch of course — not always the dreary, flat tracks teams tend to expect in the subcontinent. In fact, so unplayable was a third day pitch in the 2016 Test match against New Zealand that India had slipped to 106/6 in the second innings before a battling fifty from local boy Wriddhiman Saha resuscitated their chances. Once the Test was won by 178 runs, Virat Kohli labelled the experience as a ‘character building’ one.
It was still an exception though, given India have notched massive victories in three out of the last four Tests here—innings and 51 runs against West Indies in 2013, 178 runs against New Zealand in 2016 and an innings and 46 runs against Bangladesh in 2019. But Sri Lanka drew in 2017, in November. As did Pakistan in 2007, also in November.
Of the three Test defeats India suffered in the last four decades at Eden Gardens, the one to England in 2012 possibly stung the most. But probably more crushing was the 329-run loss to South Africa in 1996 where Klusener came up with those magical figures after twin hundreds by Gary Kirsten.
From headliners to support acts, seamers have always done well at Eden Gardens. And no one has been better at it than Mohammad Shami in recent years. He is behind Harbhajan, Kumble, Bedi and Kapil Dev on the top wicket-takers at Eden list, but has 23 wickets in just four Tests, with a staggering strike rate of 31.52 since his debut here in 2013.
The last two Ranji Trophy games too have witnessed matchwinning spells from Shami, taking 15 wickets against Gujarat and Uttarakhand. It raises a question if India have been premature in writing off Shami, not picking him at all in the squad for the two-Test series. Akash Deep bowls in a similar mould, and Eden of course is his home ground, but it remains to be seen if India pick him for the first Test.
On Monday, only two tracks in the middle of the square were left uncovered by the ground staff, one with an even smattering of grass and the pitch to its adjacent looking more bare and brown. The grass will anyway be trimmed in the next two days and spinners will definitely come into play but if history is to be taken into account, so will reverse swing. As of now though, the official word is that India haven’t asked for a rank turner.
“Well, they haven’t asked for it yet. So, I won’t be able to answer the question. It (the pitch) looks a very good one,” said CAB president Sourav Ganguly, who coincidentally had the last word in the preparation of that 2016 Test pitch. Going by recent history, the pitches have been on the slower side in the Ranji Trophy this season but Shami still made the ball talk, taking 15 wickets in Bengal’s wins against Gujarat and Uttarakhand.
The pitch was last watered on Saturday, and according to the ground staff spinners should expect turn from Day 3. And while India still have a world-class spin attack despite the retirement of Ravichandran Ashwin, South Africa—the reigning world champions—should be happy as well.
Only recently have they squared the two-Test series in Pakistan 1-1 riding match-winning performances from off-spinner Simon Harmer and slow left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj. Given how New Zealand left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner had mauled India last year, expect India to leave no stone unturned to ensure that nightmare isn’t repeated.
