"Beyond our control"- Gautam Gambhir's sacking scripted by BCCI President

Gautam Gambhir has been under immense fire for the wicket he requested at the Eden Gardens, for the 1st IND vs SA Test. The Eden Gardens pitch, which hosted the India vs South Africa First Test, was criticised and considered a rank turner, which had a significant impact on the Indians themselves.

However, CAB President Sourav Ganguly has consistently denied taking any responsibility, claiming that they have delivered only the requests that were made to them.

Ever since India played on the rank turner pitch at the Eden Gardens, several former cricketers, as well as cricket analysts, have blamed the CAB and their president, Sourav Ganguly, for such an unconventional track.

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The match ended three days after the start of the game, and the two teams could not even go past the score of 200, a single time across the four innings. Temba Bavuma remained the only half-century in the match.

Sourav Ganguly denies CAB's role in the Eden pitch, claims the BCCI curators took over

Former Indian captain and current CAB President, Sourav Ganguly, clarified to India Today that not only the state association but also the BCCI curators took control of the Eden Gardens pitch four days before the India-South Africa Test match.

“No, no, I don’t get involved at all,” he told India Today when asked whether he was consulted by the Indian team management before preparing the pitch. He has accepted that it was a very challenging surface, but has never accepted the blame.

“Curators from the BCCI come and take over the wickets four days before the Test match. We have our own curator (Sujan Mukherjee) as well, who’s done exceptionally well for a long time. The requests are made, and you keep the requests. That’s what it is,” he added.

"India must play on much better wickets than what they played at Eden Gardens,” said the former BCCI President

The former BCCI President acknowledged the pitch to not be the greatest and reiterated that India should back its quality by playing on better tracks with more balanced surfaces at home. It has already been noted that India impresses with strong batting performances on competitive tracks, as they did in England.

“It was not the greatest, I'll have to completely admit, and I think the top-order batting, the middle-order batting, you know, deserves a better cricketing surface. It was a full house at Eden Gardens for those three days, and I completely believe that Gautam Gambhir and his team in India must play on much better wickets than what they played at Eden Gardens,” said Sourav Ganguly.

He further went on to add that Ganguly added the decision to prepare such a surface stemmed from requests by the Indian team management. He also pointed out that Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, admitted that they got the pitch just like they wanted.

“Sometimes it is beyond our control, and we try and keep the request of the team and the coach, and the captain. And that is what we do, so that's what it is. And you've heard Gautam Gambhir say after the game that he wanted that sort of a pitch and was given that sort of a pitch. So you keep the captain and the coach's request,” he added.

Sourav Ganguly voices against Gautam Gambhir's sacking

The debate has been over Gautam Gambhir's skills as the head coach of the Indian team, since they have lost four of their last 6 home matches to SENA countries. Ganguly had further asked the Indian management to trust their bowlers and avoid the WTC pressures.

“There is no question of sacking Gautam Gambhir at this stage,” said Sourav Ganguly, as he highlighted the great performance from both Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill in the England series.

"Gautam as a coach and Shubman as a captain did exceptionally well in England on good batting pitches, and I firmly believe that they can do well in India as well.

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