‘It hardly matters’: South Africa coach gets blunt on Guwahati pitch after Kolkata debacle

The Guwahati Test was supposed to be a calm reset after the chaos at Eden Gardens. Instead, the build-up to the first-ever Test at this venue has been another long debate of the pitch. India have zig-zagged with their pitch requests all month. Batting-friendly against West Indies, then turning to a raging rank turner for South Africa in Kolkata, which blew up in their faces.

The call has now changed once more, and Ashish Bhowmick, who’s the head curator at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium and also serves as the head curator of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has received a straightforward directive to create something just, true, and predictable.

‘Still two days to go’ – Piet Botha says surface looks better

South Africa’s bowling coach Piet Botha walked the length of the strip on Thursday and sounded more optimistic than anyone in Kolkata last week, though he made it clear he wasn’t ready to make final judgements. “As far as the pitch is concerned, obviously I had a look at it this morning, it’s still two days to go. So it’s difficult to predict if they will actually shave off more grass or not. That will obviously make a difference,” he said after training.

Early whispers around the stadium suggest a truer batting surface, but Botha pointed out that red soil can flip character depending on the finishing touches. “What we have heard is that it seems to be a good batting track up front, and spin comes into picture late. But we’ll have to wait and see, maybe it starts earlier, and what the previous Test turned out to be.”

The first images from Barsapara pitch offered a glimpse of what that might look like. A red-soil wicket with a visible patch of grass through the centre. Red soil tends to give better carry, doesn’t crumble early, and brings spinners into the game with bounce rather than random explosions. Whether it tilts more towards seam or spin now depends on how much of that grass survives by Saturday morning.

He admitted that the toss call will be entirely dependent on the final look. “If the wicket is good to bat on, then batting first is a good option, but if the track is like the one in Kolkata, then it hardly matters.”

South Africa are also hoping Kagiso Rabada is fit enough to return, with a decision due within a day, while Simon Harmer is likely to slot straight back in. This is Guwahati’s maiden Test, and nobody wants a repeat of a match that ends in two days with everyone pointing fingers.

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