NEW DELHI: India bowling coach Morne Morkel acknowledged that the team was “surprised” by how quickly the Eden Gardens pitch “deteriorated” after a dramatic second day that saw 15 wickets fall and the opening Test tilt strongly in India’s favour.Resuming at 37 for 1, India were bowled out for 189, but Ravindra Jadeja (4/29) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/12) put South Africa under severe pressure at 93 for 7, with only captain Temba Bavuma (29 off 78) showing resistance as the visitors held a slender lead of 63 runs.Morkel admitted the team did not anticipate such rapid wear and tear.
“Yeah, look, I mean, to be honest with you, even we didn’t expect a wicket to deteriorate so quickly… we all thought when we watched that first couple of hours that it was a good wicket, so it did deteriorate quite quickly, which was unexpected,” he said after stumps.He added that such unpredictability is what makes playing in India demanding.“That’s the beauty sometimes of playing in the subcontinent… you need to be able to adapt and react to conditions quite quickly and that’s the sort of challenge that we’re facing here at the moment.”Despite the surface behaviour, Morkel emphasised that India had backed their strengths.“We’ve got quality with seam and spin… we cover both bases. For us it’s just a matter of what is in front of us and to play that as best as possible.”He said the pre-match conversation had labelled the pitch as “a good wicket,” with the focus instead on attacking South Africa’s batting.“The conversation leading up to the game was that it’s going to be a good wicket and it’s going to be hard work… so we planned more on how we were going to attack and target the South African batting line-up. We took the thought of the conditions out of the equation.”The plan, he said, was to adjust session by session.“We thought it was going to deteriorate as the match goes on… we would adapt on the day and play it session by session.”Pointing to Bavuma’s composure, Morkel said runs were still gettable.“Temba showed tonight that it is battable if you can rotate strike and have a solid game plan.”He noted that batting would require surviving difficult spells.“I thought this morning it was going to be a surface where it’s tough to score in stages, but then over two or three overs you can get a couple of runs. It’s just about fighting through those little tough periods.”KL Rahul’s 39 remains the top score in the match, and Morkel said there is no single method that will work on this surface.“I don’t think there’s a set format where you just survive. You need to transfer a bit of pressure onto the bowler, look to rotate strike and be busy at the crease,” he said.“Everybody’s got different strength… it’s up to the batter to work out his best way of scoring whether to be attacking, sweep, or just rotate strike.”He felt India finished below par in the first innings.“We all agree we could have scored 50-60 more… rotating strike is tricky. Unfortunately, Shubman going down early (retiring hurt) meant another new batter at the crease.”With Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant both taking charge over the course of the innings, Morkel said leadership remains a collective effort.“From the outside it’s calmer… we can throw out suggestions on how we think we can squeeze more or take wickets. At the end of the day, we win together, lose together and plan together,” he said.“Everybody’s got their way… there’s never a wrong or right way. You reflect after the game, look to get better and find your path to a win.”Even with the pitch surprising both sides, India’s selection — four spinners with Sai Sudharsan omitted for Axar Patel — suggested a better read of the conditions. But Morkel insisted this won’t become a set pattern.“We’ll take it Test by Test… pick the best XI that we feel can get the win. Not looking too far ahead. Play this game well, take learnings, then arrive in Guwahati and see what we get,” he added.
