India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel has said that the team did not expect the Eden Gardens pitch to deteriorate so quickly and they were taken by surprise after there was good run-scoring for the first two hours, but eventually, wickets of both sides tumbled like a pack of cards.

India, resuming on 37/1, were bowled out for a paltry 189, before Ravindra Jadeja (4/29) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/12) left South Africa tottering at 93/7, an overall lead of just 63, with only captain Temba Bavuma (29 off 78) offering resistance.

Morkel said that the dressing room hadn’t anticipated such rapid wear and tear on the Eden Gardens track.

“Yeah, look, I mean, to be honest with you, even we did not expect a wicket to deteriorate so quickly… we all thought when we watched that first couple of hours that it

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