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Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Shubman Gill once again had a lengthy chat with Eden Gardens pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee on the eve of the first Test match against South Africa. According to a report by RevSportz, Gambhir, along with assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and bowling coach Morne Morkel, inspected the surface at the start of their practice session on Thursday. They were soon joined by BCCI curators Ashish Bhowmich and Tapas Chatterjee. After some time, Gill and vice-captain Rishabh Pant also joined the discussion, which reportedly lasted for around 30 minutes. The report also claimed that the team management was not happy with a particular spot on the Eden Gardens pitch.

Earlier, Shubman Gill acknowledged that the choice between a spinner and an extra seamer is nothing short of a "conflict," but the game-changing ability of tweakers at home will be a crucial consideration when India finalise their playing 11 for the first Test against South Africa.

The talismanic Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj are certain to feature in the eleven at Eden Gardens, while Akash Deep is the third pacer in the squad. India has four spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav. Jadeja, Axar and Washington also offer batting heft.

"It's always this time of the year, there is always a conflict if you want to go for an extra seamer or spinner. That's why we will see the condition tomorrow and decide on the XI," Gill said in the pre-match press conference here on Thursday.

But without giving away the full range of his thoughts, Gill said spinners have the game-deciding abilities.

"It's more or less finalised. The wicket looks different from yesterday. We will see it tomorrow morning and then will finalise the spin combination, as spinners, more or less, will decide the game," he added.

He then touched upon the value that Washington, Jadeja and Axar bring to the table as batters.

"We are fortunate to have good batting all-rounders, be it Axar, Washington or Jadeja; their bowling and batting records are excellent, especially in India. It's going to be an exciting Test, and it's good to have more options," he noted.

However, Gill was not ready to rule out the role pacers could play if the pitch goes dry in Kolkata.
"Reverse swing plays a big part if it's a dry wicket. During the 2024 series against England, the pacers took crucial wickets even as the pitches were spin-friendly. If it's reversing, the pacers are always in the game," he reasoned.