Pitch-imperfect?

Kolkata: The pitch row triggered by India’s embarrassing 30-run loss to South Africa while chasing a modest 124 has also opened up a larger debate -- are young skipper Shubman Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir on the same page on what construes ideal home conditions?

The collapse, India’s lowest failed chase at home, has left behind deeper fault lines than a dry Eden Gardens wicket can conceal.

Just a month ago, on the eve of the West Indies Test series in Ahmedabad, Gill had been emphatic that the team has moved away from the philosophy of preferring “rank turners”.

“...we would be looking to play on wickets that offer both to the batsmen and to the bowlers,” Gill had said, outlining a vision of balanced surfaces.

Yet India walked into the series against the reigning World Test champions on a pitch that was the exact opposite of what their captain advocated. The Eden strip was left unwatered for more than a week and was kept under cover in the evening. The result was a dry, flaky surface that disintegrated from session one in a match that lasted barely eight sessions, producing 38 wickets, with spinners taking 22 and pacers 16.

If the team had moved away from rank turners, Eden suggested the opposite. Gambhir was unapologetic and had no qualms declaring that the pitch was exactly what the team management wanted.

“If you don’t play well this is what happens. There were no demons in the wicket,” he asserted.

Ask Aiden Markram, who was undone by a ball from Jasprit Bumrah that leapt from the off-stump line in the first hour of the opening day, or KL Rahul, who was bamboozled by a Marco Jansen delivery that reared up sharply in the fourth innings -- and they would disagree.

Gambhir insisted seamers were the ones doing the damage. “Ultimately, if we had won this Test match, you wouldn’t even be talking about this pitch,” he said in his usual combative style.

The messaging gap, however, is evident. Gill had asked for balance. The coach wanted exactly what transpired. The captain didn’t even get to play owing to neck spasms that needed hospitalisation, putting him in doubt for the second Test in Guwahati from November 22. Gill took no part beyond day 1 owing to the neck spasm sustained while playing a slog-sweep boundary off Simon Harmer. In his absence, Indian batting displayed neither discipline nor adaptability.