Eden shambles exposes perils of extreme turn ers obsession

THE TURN OF events at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata — South Africa beat India by 30 runs in the first of the two-Test series by defending a target of 124, the lowest total India has ever failed to chase at home — pained the two most prolific wicket-takers at this grand old stadium.

- SANDIP G

“What a mockery of Test cricket,” said hat-trick hero Harbhajan Singh. His senior partner in several wreckings, Anil Kumble, ina chat with the host broadcasters, lamented, “I have never seen a pitch that behaved like this over the three days ina Test match.”

On the devious pitch — where the highest team total was 189 (India’s first innings) and the biggest individual tally was an unconquered 55 by South Africa’s Temba Bavuma; where 38 wickets fell in eight sessions, no Indian batsman touched 40, and where the bounce was unpredictable and the spin prodigious — the Test finished ina little over two-and-a-half days, exposing India’s unflinching fixation with turners.