"No One Raised This Question Before": India Star Puts An End To Eden Gardens Pitch Row

India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar feels the debate over preparing a spin-friendly track at the Eden Gardens for the opening Test against South Africa is pointless, as the country has been laying out such wickets for ages. India suffered a 30-run defeat at the hands of the Proteas inside three days, failing to chase a minuscule 124-run target. The loss to South Africa in Kolkata had shades of the 0-3 drubbing at the hands of New Zealand last year, where the Blackcaps' spinners played a pivotal role in their historic clean sweep against Rohit Sharma's side.

However, Bhuvneshwar didn't read too much into the defeat.

"This is not the first time a spin-friendly track has been prepared. No one raised this question before because India was winning. And winning and losing is part of the game. It's not that the team has not lost before or it has lost for the first time. I don't think it's (defeat) a big worry for me," said the 35-year-old pacer, who announced the launch of the CricGiri app, of which he is the co-founder.

On whether it was necessary for India to play four spinners at Eden, Bhuvneshwar said the selection would have been made based on the condition of the pitch.

"The way the wicket was prepared, we all know that the requirement was for four spinners (Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Washington Sundar). We had some good spinners, it was a turning track, and the way the match went, it was a good decision to play four spinners," he said.

Skipper Shubman Gill's neck injury, which ruled him out of the Kolkata Test, came as a body blow to India, but Bhuvneshwar did not want to be drawn into talk about workload management for the young captain.

"Gill has become captain recently. If he so desires, he would speak out for himself. He is part of the think-tank, decision-making, so if he really needs rest, he will say that he needs rest. Mentally and physically, he is in a position to say that," opined Bhuvneshwar, who will be donning Royal Challengers colours once again in the IPL next year.

With RCB in the eye of a storm after the stampede outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium this year following the death of scores of fans, Bhuvneshwar, when asked if the players would be able to take the field with a positive mindset, said:

"There are so many tournaments before the IPL, so when the IPL camp starts, a lot of things would be discussed then-what frame of mind the team is in and what is going on.

A lot will depend on how the players do in the tournaments preceding the IPL and how a player enters the IPL, so all those things will matter," he said.

On June 4, a massive crowd crush occurred outside the stadium as RCB celebrated its maiden IPL title win. Eleven people were killed and dozens of others were injured in the crush.

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