Internal conflict? Sitanshu Kotak shockingly contradicts Gautam Gambhir on the field in Kolkata

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

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

Gautam said 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 badly on the Proteas as they were on the receiving end of a humiliating 30-run loss.

The Kolkata pitch became a major talking point as several pundits 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 felt that the pitch played a crucial role in India’s loss, but Gautam Gambhir thought differently.

Speaking to reporters after the match, Gautam Gambhir did not put the curator under the bus and bluntly said that they wanted the exact same pitch that was on offer and also lashed out at the batters’ inability to play well.

Now, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has contradicted Gautam Gambhir’s views. He said Gambhir took the blame because he did not want to point the finger at the trustee. Kotak said:

“Look, during the last match wicket, Gautam said he took all the blame. He said he took the blame because he didn’t think he should put the blame on the trustees.’

I’m telling you the truth. Nobody wanted it to be like this: Sitanshu Kotak

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

“What happened in the last match, after a day it felt like the match was crumbling. There was a little bit of soil [that came up after the ball pitched]. You can all see that. That was not expected. Even though the spider was expected, it was after 3 days or on the third day in the evening. Sometimes the weather wanted it, sometimes even the curators didn’t want it. I’m 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 that’s why this happened – that’s how I understand it. Otherwise, really, you can ask the curator: no one said that the match should be over in two days or that there should be a square turn.

“I can tell you from the time I have been here, it is the same every time we play a Test match for 4 to 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 help for spinners from the surface as that is their strength but clearly denied blaming the pitch for India’s loss at the Eden Gardens against the Temba Bavuma-led team.

“We just need some 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 bit slow. But other than that, fast bowlers have always taken wickets,” Kotak offered.

“In Kolkata it was surprising, when the mitti (earth) came out, that was surprising, no team would ask that [on the] second day we want it to explode [puff up]. Everyone would understand that, it’s not rocket science,” he added.

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