By Admin 
The 30-run margin that South Africa beat India by in the first Test here may appear convincing on paper, but it was a match that was on a knife’s edge for long periods. The two days and two sessions the contest lasted were pregnant with possibilities and the cricket gripping.
But a lingering question will be whether the game was a good advertisement for Test cricket. It was played on a spiteful track that took early turn and ended up disincentivising most batters.
There is nothing illegitimate about a pitch that favours spin, just like how there should be no quibble about conditions that favour swing and seam. But an undercooked and underprepared strip which also carries inconsistent bounce like it did at the Eden Gardens helps no one and makes luck more of a factor than skill.
India coach Gautam Gambhir said that mental toughness and temperament mattered more than skill, and South Africa coach Shukri Conrad stated that they expected India to dish out such a track. The Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma, who scored the lone half-century of the game, went a step further and said he would be richer for the experience.
Gambhir also sought to point out that pacers took many wickets (16 of the 38) and thus it cannot be called a turning pitch. But facing Jasprit Bumrah and Marco Jansen with up-and-down bounce is a death-knell. Just ask Aiden Markram, who fell to a vicious delivery from Bumrah as early as the first morning.
After Sunday’s play, Gambhir confirmed that the Kolkata strip was exactly what they had asked for. This now brings us to the next question — should India even be attempting to play on tough turning wickets that elevate the opposition spinners —like it did with Simon Harmer — and narrow the gap between sides?
Whenever India loses such a Test, the popular refrain is that it got a taste of its own medicine. But there is a case to be made that it can no longer be called a medicine. It is India’s poison, its kryptonite.
Indore 2023 versus Australia, Pune and Mumbai against New Zealand last year and Sunday’s crushing loss have all laid bare the fact that Indians are no longer good players of spin.
India currently has an all-weather bowling attack, with world-class pacers in Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, and incredible spin-bowling depth in the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. Surely they can fashion wins on pitches that don’t deteriorate from day one.
There is a reason why the five-match India-England Test series this summer that Shubman Gill & Co. drew 2-2 will be long remembered — there was cricket on all 25 days, tracks were true and they tested the patience and perseverance of not just the batters but also the bowlers.
A third not-so-good effect of having shortened Tests is that it short-changes the travelling fan, who has to spend more on cancelled bookings, both travel and accommodation. The insatiable hunger for cricket in India can camouflage this, but to what end?
The World Test Championship massively incentivises a win, for it awards 12 points as compared to a draw (four points). But this has bred a winner-takes-all mentality which has in-turn upset the balance between bat and ball. It will be a pity if this eventually leads to spectator apathy, that too in a format that is already said to be on life support.