Reverse swing on the cards in Kolkata for India vs South Africa Test

Reverse swing will potentially play a key role in the first Test between India and South Africa starting November 14 in Kolkata. ESPNcricinfo has learned that the surface at Eden Gardens, which will host a Test match for the first time in six years, will have good bounce but is expected to start slowing down by the halfway mark.

It is understood that the black-soil pitch is already devoid of any live grass four days before the Test with the grass cover expected to be barely a couple of millimetres by the time the match begins. While the second Test of the West Indies series, played in Delhi, was also a black-soil pitch, it is understood the Eden Gardens surface will not be a docile track like the one at the Arun Jaitley Stadium where India won by seven wickets on the fifth day.

West Indies played the two-match series on completely contrasting pitches with the first match, in Ahmedabad, played on one of the greenest strips in India in recent times with four mm of live grass on a red-soil pitch with good bounce. The match finished inside three days as West Indies suffered a bruising innings defeat, lasting 44.1 and 45.1 overs in their two innings.

In the wake of India's 3-0 whitewash last year at home against New Zealand, India will be wary of preparing rank turners both in Kolkata and Guwahati against South Africa. It is understood that the Eden Gardens pitch is expected to roughen up quickly facilitating reverse swing for the fast bowlers. There is another encouraging fact for the quicks there: in the last 15 years, it is Kolkata where fast bowlers have recorded the highest wicket percentage (61%) with 97 wickets in six red-ball Tests.

Another factor that is likely to be favourable to seamers is the cooler temperatures both in the first hour of the morning and final hour of the evening which could potentially aid lateral movement. All these factors combined could amount to the toss not playing a defining role. Also, while the outfield at Eden Gardens is among the quickest owing to the black soil (different from the one used for the pitch), the batters are likely to face the challenge once the pitch starts slowing down as the Test progresses.

South Africa arrived in India on the back of their series-levelling Test win in Rawalpindi recently against Pakistan. The Pakistan series, which was played on spin-friendly pitches, saw South Africa's trio of slow bowlers - Senuran Muthusamy (Player of the Series), Keshav Maharaj (Player of the Match in Rawalpindi) and Simon Harmer (second-highest wicket-taker in the series) - excel before arriving in India.

This will be the fourth Test for South Africa at Eden Gardens where they won on their first visit in 1996 but lost the last two - in 2004 and 2010. The last Test played at the venue was in 2019 when India defeated Bangladesh under lights in a pink-ball Test. The last red-ball Test played in Kolkata was in 2017, against Sri Lanka, which ended in a draw.