Shaun Pollock reacts to Gautam Gambhir’s views on Kolkata pitch after IND vs SA 2025 1st Test

Former South African captain Shaun Pollock said he doesn’t agree with India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir’s views on the Eden Gardens pitch. After India suffered a 30-run loss, Gambhir said they wanted the exact track which was given by the curator but said there were no demons in the surface.

Pollock disagreed with India’s chief coach and said there were plenty of balls that were unplayable. The track had an invariable bounce and it was not easy for the batters, who found it difficult to get going.

India was bowled out for only 93 runs in the second innings in the run-chase of 124 and Gambhir admitted that batters didn’t bat well.

“The only issue I’ve got is actually about no demons. I don’t agree with that one. It was very difficult at times. There were certain deliveries that were unplayable. There were a few demons. I think if he looked back he would take away that there weren’t that many demons. His point is probably going more down the lines that the batters need to show more application and ability to bat on different surfaces. I would say there were demons and it was very difficult and it is not kind of what you want. But I do get his point. Even though it was difficult, they should have shown more application,” Pollock said on Cricbuzz.

The former Proteas bowler said India might not make a lot of changes for the second Test, but the hosts can think of adding an extra batter in place of Axar Patel.

“Bowlers, no issue. They have done their job. It comes down to the batters. If you go down to the route of saying Shubman Gill did not contribute, if he scores, then no issues. So I don’t know if there will be massive changes. The only thing could be if you want to go one bowling option short and play the extra batter. Besides it I don’t see any changes. Maybe you say we don’t need to extra spin of Axar and get more batting in. That could be the only change.”

On the other hand, former Indian wicket-keeper bat Dinesh Karthik questioned India’s selection in the opening Test.

“India had three all-rounders in the 11. Is that one too many? South Africa backed regular bowlers. Washington bowled just one over across both innings and they had the likes of Devdutt Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan sitting outside who are bonafide batters,” he said.

India and South Africa will take on each other in the second Test at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, from Saturday onwards.