Gautam Gambhir continued to back the Kolkata wicket, but the Test match venue remained under the scanner as the opening India–South Africa clash wrapped up well before schedule. The contest finished midway through the third day, with the visitors defeating India by 30 runs to take control of the series.

Without Shubman Gill, India’s chase of 124 never took off, and they were bundled out for 93 in the fourth innings. Simon Harmer’s four-wicket spell proved decisive in sealing the outcome.

Around the halfway mark on Day 3, CAB president Sourav Ganguly clarified the situation, stating that the surface wasn’t watered for four days at the request of the Indian team, who wanted a spinner-friendly wicket. Gautam Gambhir explained, mentioning that curator Sujan Mukherjee cooperated closely and produced the pitch exactly as the home side had desired.

The pitch drew strong backlash from many former players, with Michael Vaughan, Anil Kumble, Dale Steyn, and Cheteshwar Pujara criticising the track. They argued that India should have gone with a more balanced surface, insisting the home side is strong enough to outperform South Africa without relying on an overly spin-friendly wicket.

Former India batter Wasim Jaffer has now joined the conversation as well, suggesting that the team management should revert to the kind of pitches prepared during Virat Kohli’s captaincy era between 2016 and 2020.

“Looks like we haven’t learned our lesson from NZ series loss. The gap between our spinners and opposition spinners reduces on pitches like this. We need to go back to classic Indian pitches, like the ones in 2016-17 season when Virat was captain and Eng and NZ tour,” Wasim posted on X.

Since Gambhir took charge, India’s red-ball form has dipped sharply. The team has slumped to four losses in their previous six matches at home and now stands very close to surrendering another home series.