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With India set to take on South Africa in the first Test at the iconic Eden Gardens, the venue's pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee has offered valuable insights into what batters and bowlers can expect from the surface.
Mukherjee believes that bowlers operating in the morning session will have an edge due to the conditions assisting swing and the pitch providing good carry. "In Eden Gardens, whoever bowls in the morning session will get swing," Mukherjee said in a video posted by Star Sports. "The wicket has good carry, so they should practice slip catching," he added. Emphasising the importance of preparation in the slips, Mukherjee warned that edges are likely to come into play. "You can't say there will be no edges, there may be edges and carry as well," he explained. "That's why they should practice slip catching," he noted. In the Test format, India is coming into the series with a 2-0 sweep against West Indies at home, South Africa is heading to Indian shores after a 1-1 draw against Pakistan, where their trio of spinners, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer and Senuran Muthusamy picked up 33 out of 40 Pakistani wickets, all while averaging below 22 individually. Maharaj secured a nine-wicket haul, while Harmer got an innings four-wicket haul and an innings six-fer in both Tests respectively. Muthusamy, the 'Player of the Series', got an 11-wicket haul in the first Test, six scalps in the first innings and five in the second. India would be aiming to thwart this lethal spin threat and look back at the devastating whitewash series loss to New Zealand at home last year as a serious lesson, where Ajaz Patel (15 scalps), Mitchell Santner (13 scalps) and Glenn Phillips (8 wickets) took 36 out of 60 wickets combined and humiliated a star-studded Team India, consisting of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin at their own backyard. This series started a retirement tour of sorts for these aforementioned legends, which concluded with a humiliating series loss in Australia, and this series proved to be the last series in India for these stalwarts. India's Test squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rishabh Pant (Wicketkeeper) (Vice captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (Captain), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi, Zubayr Hamza, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne. (ANI)
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