Internal conflict? Sitanshu Kotak shockingly contradicts Gautam Gambhir over Kolkata pitch

India National Cricket Team batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has openly contradicted the head coach Gautam Gambhir over his views on the pitch prepared for the first Test against the South Africa National Cricket Team.

Sitanshu Kotak said that no one wanted the kind of surface that was produced by the curator for the Test series opener at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Gautam said that he took all the blame on himself - Sitanshu Kotak

India's decision to deploy a bowling-friendly track at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata backfired heavily against the Proteas as they were at the receiving end of a humiliating 30-run loss.

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The Kolkata pitch became a big point of discussion as several experts lashed out at the Gautam Gambhir-led team management for demanding such a poor surface despite having a strong team.

Michael Vaughan, Harbhajan Singh, Kris Srikkanth, Dale Steyn, and other former cricketers opined that the pitch played a vital role in India's loss, but Gautam Gambhir felt otherwise.

Speaking to reporters after the match, Gautam Gambhir didn't put the curator under the bus and bluntly said that they wanted exactly the same pitch that was offered, and he also lashed out at the batters' inability to play well.

Now, the batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has contradicted Gautam Gambhir's views. He said that Gambhir took the blame on himself because he didn't want to point fingers at the curator. Kotak said:

"See, in the last match wicket, Gautam said that he took all the blame on himself. He said that he took the blame because he felt that he should not put the blame on the curators."

I am telling you the truth. No one wanted it to be like this - Sitanshu Kotak

Sitanshu Kotak added that no one wants a pitch where the match gets finished inside two and a half days, and they expected spin to come into play after three days. He elaborated:

"Now, what happened in the last match, after a day, it felt like it was crumbling. There was a little bit of soil [that came up after the ball pitched]. All of you can see that. That was not expected. Even if the spin was expected, it was after 3 days or on the third day in the evening. Sometimes, the weather, sometimes, even the curators did not want it. I am telling you the truth. No one wanted it to be like this."

"Now, from the second day itself, the wicket became too dry. Or the top layer of the wicket became too dry. And the layer underneath was very hard because there was a lot of rolling. Probably because of that, this happened - that's how I understand it. Otherwise, genuinely, you can ask the curator, no one has said that the match should be over in two days or there should be square turn.

"I can tell you from the time I have come here, every time it is the same thing that we play a Test match for 4-4.5 days," Kotak added.

We just need a little spin because spin is our strength - Sitanshu Kotak

Sitanshu Kotak further said that they just need a little bit of help for spinners from the surface because that is their strength, but clearly denied blaming the pitch for India's loss at the Eden Gardens against the Temba Bavuma-led side.

"We just need a little spin because spin is our strength. On the first day, on the second day, fast bowlers [always] stay in the game. Even if you see the Ahmedabad Test [against West Indies]... The Delhi Test was a little slow. But otherwise, fast bowlers have always taken wickets," Kotak offered.

"In Kolkata, it was surprising, when, actually, the mitti (soil) was coming out, that was surprising, no team would ask that [on the] second day, we want it to blast [puff up]. Anybody would understand that, it's not rocket science," he added.

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