Cheteshwar Pujara is unimpressed by suggestions that India’s home defeat to South Africa comes down to a changing dressing-room. The experienced batter, speaking on JioStar after the 30-run loss at Eden Gardens, said plainly: “I don’t buy this that India are losing at home because of transition. I can’t digest that.”
India, chasing 124, folded for 93 on a surface that spat and bounced from ball one. Gautam Gambhir, now head coach, later told reporters the strip was “exactly the pitch we were looking for,” yet only one half-century—on either side—was managed across four innings. South Africa’s 189 in the first dig remained the game’s highest total.
For Pujara, the numbers undermine any transition narrative. “If you lose in England or Australia because of transition, it could be acceptable,” he said. “But this team has the talent and potential. You look at the first-class record of all the players – Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill… Washy [Washington Sundar] batted at No. 3 in this game – all their records are so good. Still if you lose at home that means something is wrong.”
His argument is straightforward: India controlled the variables yet ceded parity by preparing an over-eager turner. “If you had played the same match on a good wicket, there were much better chances of [India] winning,” he added. “On such tracks, your chances decrease and the opposition is at par with you. There’s so much talent in India, even an India A side could beat South Africa. So if you say this loss is because of transition, it’s not acceptable.”
That stance places the spotlight on strategy rather than personnel. India have favoured spin-friendly pitches for years, yet recent evidence is mixed: a 3-0 home drubbing by New Zealand last winter and now four defeats in six Tests on their own patch. Vernon Philander, on commentary duty, reckoned “On that surface 123 was like 350-400,” while former India assistant coach Sanjay Bangar questioned whether the hosts had “given away their main advantage by making runs almost impossible”.
Pujara did not spare the batters either but pointed to specific preparation, not wholesale changes. “You can’t just blame the batters on this kind of a wicket because firstly if you want to play on such wickets, your preparation has to be different,” he said. “Gauti bhai said they asked for this kind of a wicket but it wasn’t easy to bat on. Look at the stats of both teams – only one batter scored a fifty so it shows it wasn’t a good wicket.
“If you want to play on such tracks, your batters have to be prepared accordingly and it didn’t look like they were prepared. On such wickets, you have to play different kind of shots, like rely more on sweeps, play a little positive, try to move the scoreboard. But there was an expectation that this wicket would be a bit decent, it would have some turn, and you can bat well and score runs. But this wicket wasn’t like that. If the Indian team wants such turning wickets where the ball turns from ball one, then the batters’ approach will have to be different.”
The loss, coupled with last season’s whitewash, further dents India’s World Test Championship push. They head to Chennai 0-1 down, short on points, and—if Pujara is right—with questions to answer about how much help a pitch should provide before it starts handicapping the home side.
