Their mind in a spin, India get to work ahead of test in Guwahati

Left-handed batters versus all types of net bowlers was the theme of the optional training at Eden

- Somshuvra Laha

For a change, the focus at Eden Gardens on Tuesday, what should have ideally been the fifth day of the first Test, wasn't on the pitch. Sodden black from the generous watering that it was devoid of for nearly five days before the Test began, the track barely caught a second glance from the Indian team even though some grass that had not knitted properly earlier was finally popping up.

Sujan Mukherjee — the curator the nation wants an answer from — was doing the rounds, exchanging pleasantries with Gautam Gambhir and Sitanshu Kotak, signalling all was well. It definitely wasn't.

Game over in less than three days, Eden was hung and quartered as a venue unfit to host Test cricket in that vast vacuum of virtual courthouse we call social media. Sourav Ganguly has washed his hands of the matter, pushing the ball in Gambhir's court.

Gambhir said this was exactly the pitch he had asked for, shifting the spotlight on his batters’ inability to play turn and time. Nothing happens overnight, but India’s batters turning up en masse at nets on Tuesday felt like the desperate last-night cramming before the final exams.