Kotak Defends Gautam Gambhir, Says Coach Took Blame to Shield Eden Curators

India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said Gautam Gambhir took the blame for the Eden pitch to protect the players and curators from blame.

India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak defended Gautam Gambhir after the 30-run defeat to South Africa in the opening Test at Eden Gardens, stating that responsibility does not rest solely on the head coach. Kotak said the players and support staff also had areas to improve, especially after India struggled on a surface that turned sharply from Day 2.

“Everyone is talking about Gautam Gambhir. No one is saying that the batsmen, the bowlers or the support staff could have done things differently,” Kotak said during a press conference on Thursday.

He added that the team backed spin-friendly conditions at home but did not expect the pitch to deteriorate so early. Kotak also supported curator Sujan Mukherjee, explaining that the pitch behaved unusually because a dry top layer combined with a heavily rolled base caused excessive turn earlier than planned.

“When we play a Test at home or travel abroad, every home team plays to its strengths. Ever since I became the batting coach, we have opted for spin-friendly tracks in India. We always hoped that a match goes on four days at least, and the ball should turn a bit since spin is our strength. In the last match, as well all saw, the pitch was a dusty and was also crumbling a bit. That was unexpected,” he said.

We thought that the spinners would come into play properly from the third day. Even the curators didn’t expect that. Seeing that much turn on the second day is not normal. It probably happened because the top layer was dry and the pitch underneath was hard since it was rolled a lot,” Kotak added.

“Unfair Targeting” of Gambhir, Says Kotak

Kotak then revealed that Gautam Gambhir accepted responsibility for the Eden Gardens pitch only to shield the curators from criticism.Kotak added that some of the backlash directed at the head coach and team appeared motivated by personal agendas rather than genuine analysis.

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“Gautam took all the blame for the pitch in the last match. He simply said that we had requested for such pitch as he didn’t want to throw the curators under the bus. Maybe some people individually have agendas. Good luck to them, but it is very bad,” the coach concluded.