Four days before the opening Test of the two-match series against South Africa, the Indian team held an optional training session at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday. Only a handful of players attended the three-hour practice, including captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir, who had only arrived in the city a day earlier after a long flight from Australia, where India recently played a T20I series.
Sparse training session before big Test
Among those who skipped the session were Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Devdutt Padikkal, and Axar Patel. The limited group trained under the supervision of the support staff before Gill and bowling coach Morne Morkel turned their attention to the centre wicket for an extended inspection.
According to a PTI report, the duo examined the firmness and colour of the track, and their expressions suggested they were not entirely satisfied with the surface. The pitch, left unwatered for nearly a week, appeared dry and brown with minimal grass cover.
Gill then summoned pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee for a 15-minute discussion, reportedly to understand how the wicket would behave once the match begins on Friday.
Ganguly inspects pitch later in the day
Later in the evening, after South Africa’s spin-heavy training session, Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav Ganguly also walked out to the centre to inspect the pitch and confer with the curator. Although the main surface was kept dry, the adjoining practice wickets were watered, suggesting a balance was being sought between pace and spin.
Ganguly had earlier clarified that no special request had been made by India for a “rank turner”, saying the pitch preparation was in line with standard Test match protocols.
Recent Eden Gardens form and South Africa’s challenge
Eden Gardens has hosted two Ranji Trophy games this season, where pacers Mohammed Shami and Akash Deep initially found conditions tough before exploiting reverse swing later in the innings.
South Africa, meanwhile, arrive with a balanced attack. The pace unit is led by Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, while their spin department — comprising Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, and Senuran Muthusamy — is coming off a strong showing in Pakistan, where the trio took 33 wickets between them. Muthusamy also contributed 106 runs and was named Player of the Series.