The pitch came under scrutiny with the opening Test between India and South Africa just a day old. Spinners accounted for eight of the 12 wickets that fell on Thursday but >it was the low and slow surface that earned the ire of the South Africans . It only put the curator, Daljit Singh, in a spot since he had prepared the surface as desired by the Indian team management.
South African opener >Dean Elgar, the star performer, with four wickets and a catch, slammed the pitch. “I don’t think it’s a very good cricket wicket. It is my personal opinion. It is a result wicket which is expected when you come here. But kudos to India, they are obviously going to prepare wickets like these against us.” Elgar continued, “We knew it was going to be very different from what we are used to. So it’s not a very good cricket wicket but it is a result wicket which can go either way. It is like a day four wicket now, the way I see it.”
Conceding it was not easy to bat, Elgar remarked, “We sort of expected it to play like that but we didn’t expect it to crumble as what it has already. It was hard graft. It was right up there with the hardest ever Test cricket I’ve had. It was hard work and we can see that the Indians are used to putting the opposition under pressure when their tails are up. Let’s hope it backfires and turns out to be a great victory.”
On his spell, Elgar noted, “Fortunately the wicket had broken up quite a bit and there was quite a bit of rough. I just tried to land it in a half decent area. It worked out for me. I’m thankful that the batters were a little tentative against me which is quite nice and worked in my favour and hopefully I can carry on.”
Elgar added, “I’m a little bit surprised at taking four wickets. I’ve always had the ability to bowl. I’m not only a batter. But yeah it was nice to contribute and it’s a wicket that is assisting the spinners a little bit and it’s nice to obviously bowl India out with the other four bowlers and put them on the backfoot.”
