Harbhajan Singh, a former Indian spinner who famously acquired 13 wickets at the Eden Gardens in India’s iconic Test triumph against Australia in 2001, slammed the pitch after India conceded a 30-run victory at the Eden Gardens against South Africa on Sunday, with two more days left.
South Africa were bundled out for 153 on the third morning, setting a target of only 123 for India. But as the pitch had already broken on several spots, India’s poor chase failed to reach the target, collapsing to 93 in their second innings. This was India’s loss after 13 years at the Eden Gardens and they also booked their place in the lowest five defeats at this venue.
Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel, “This pitch is not at all fit for cricket’s longest format. The pitch has developed such a large number of spots on the surface that the spinners of both teams who bowled and scalped wickets did not even know what would happen after a ball was delivered.”
“This pitch is like, you pitch here, and the ball will turn and go elsewhere. I am sure that even the top-class batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma would have struggled to survive on this surface. You can see the reflection where Temba Bavuma’s unbeaten 55 is the highest run scored on this pitch.”
Harbhajan added, saying, “It has been going on for years in our country. The game is being played on completely under-prepared pitches. Test cricket does not seem to have any value nowadays, and this pitch at the Eden Gardens is not acceptable. It is pathetic.”
