There are cricket stadiums and then there is Eden Gardens. Yes, a match at the Lord’s of India brings along with it humongous expectations every time, that of a historic Indian win. Mohammad Azharuddin always scored runs here — even when he batted with his eyes closed, his protégé of sorts VVS Laxman has scored four hundreds and over a 1,000 runs in nine Test, and Harbhajan Singh would die to play cricket over here game after game.

Undoubtedly, this ground at Kolkata holds special memories for India. Can we ever forget that miraculous turnaround in 2001 against Australia? It was only fitting then at India retained their numero uno status with yet another superlative performance against the chief contender for the throne, South Africa.

So what is it about the Eden that makes cricket viewing such an amazing experience? The main reason, without an eye blink, has to be the wonderful crowd (1996 being an exception of sorts) that turns up in huge numbers to witness a Test on all five days of a game. Rarely, even in India, will we see a full house for the traditional version of the game.

It happens only in Eden! Sad then that the venue doesn’t get a chance to host enough Tests, while lesser venues keep getting opportunities time and again despite producing dull draws. A lot of it must be due to the political battle between Bengal’s cricketing association and the BCCI in recent times. True, the crowd too isn’t the most sporting when India loses, but then that isn’t reason enough not to give the ground its due, at least not yet.

After all, the Eden Gardens has given us so many wonderful, unforgettable memories. It was here that VVS Laxman became Very Very Special and Harbhajan Singh turned into the Turbanator. Some of the shots Laxman played during that knock of 281 will be etched in our memories till time immemorial.

And for not one moment during that innings did he ever come even close to getting out. Once again, it was the Eden magic at work. The unbelievably high decibel of noise the crowd makes gives the opposition the illusion that they are playing against 60-70 thousand people instead of 11. Laxman has played many good knocks elsewhere, but it’s at Eden that he has always looked at home.

Same is the case with Harbhajan. This was the same ground at which he had resurrected his international career with a match-turning bowling performance against the Aussies. Before this game, he was miserably struggling to find his rhythm. But look what the return to his favourite venue did for the heavily under-fire off-spinner.

Not only did his performance lift to incredible heights, but the team’s fortunes turned around astoundingly as well, despite a Nagpur-like start for the South Africans with the bat. One is not sure if Harbhajan will repeat such heroics at other venues, but be rest assured that the next time he steps on to the Eden turf, he will deliver something out of the ordinary.

Yes, that’s the magic of Eden Gardens!

In a two-match series, when you are 1-nil down, it is next to improbable to make a comeback. But, the present Indian team, under MS Dhoni has made it a habit of constantly delivering the goods when the chips are completely down.

And the second Test against South Africa at Eden Gardens was no exception. India had been humiliated at home in the first Test, a rarity in itself, and two of their main batters weren’t fit for the Kolkata challenge. There was extreme pressure on Harbhajan Singh, in particular, to perform following the team’s miserable bowling effort at Nagpur.

Add to it, there was hardly a few days’ gap between the two Tests and there was plenty of pitch talk, pertaining to the grass on the wicket. Yet, when the moment arrived, Team India stood up to be counted.

The South Africans, who were ruthless in the opening Test, floundered with their batting after winning the toss, and it was just the window of opportunity India needed to comeback into the game.

Zaheer Khan, who unfortunately could not bowl much in the second essay, was brilliant in the first innings and set up the game nicely for India. He has had the knack of grabbing the big fishes, and did exactly that at the Eden Gardens.

For the other experienced bowler Harbhajan, it was almost like a do-or-die game. He hadn’t performed well in the recent past and was severely criticized in the media, some of it was fair and some rather derogatory.

But, the offie took things in this stride and answered the critics in the only way a cricketer can. He must thank his stars that he was playing at Eden Gardens, without doubt his favourite ground. Once he got a wicket, he was a different bowler altogether.

The manner in which he foxed Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy on the final morning reminded one of the carnage the Aussies were subjected to by the Turbanator at the same ground 9 years ago. Of course, he has lost a lot of the zip he possessed in those days, but if he can come up with more such performances, there is no reason why he still can’t remain India’s number one spinner.

Harbhajan’s lack of success has been attributed to the absence of Anil Kumble, who retired two seasons. While that’s a pretty fair assessment, the good news for him is that Amit Mishra proved he can be quite a potent weapon.

I am in no way comparing Mishra to the legendary leg spinner, but the delivery with which he took out Jacques Kallis was hint enough to suggest that he could be the next special thing in Indian cricket. That’s still a long way away though. For starters, he needs to maintain consistency over a reasonable period of time, and provide the requisite support to Harbhajan.

And while it wasn’t surprising that India put up an exceptional batting performance, they still need to be credited for it. After Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar played their part, India still could have been in trouble.

But, VVS Laxman demonstrated why he was so sorely missed at Nagpur. It was his and Dhoni’s ton that buried the Proteas. And though Hashim Alma and the tail kept India at bay till the closing moments, the magic of Eden had the final say.

There are plenty of lessons for India to learn from the debacle at Nagpur, none bigger than the fact that they shouldn’t pick unfit players in the side no matter how big a player is. As we all saw, there was talk that VVS Laxman could be drafted in at the last moment if fit.

However, it wasn’t to be and, as sheer bad luck would have it, stand by Rohit Sharma also twisted his ankle, moments before the game. It didn’t cost India the Test, but must have surely dented their psyche severely, as they had no option but to pick Wriddhiman Saha as the seventh batsman. India’s plans completely went for a toss and their performance in the Test reflected it.

Except for the initial half an hour, when Zaheer Khan struck two deadly blows, the Indian bowling look completely insipid. Nothing should be taken away from Hashim Amla, who batted brilliantly as well as Jacques Kallis, who proved that there is still enough fire in his belly to fight tough battles. However, there are no two ways about it that India could and should have definitely done better.

The bowling has been a worry for quite a while now for India and the signs are hardly encouraging. Zaheer Khan is the only quality bowler around, and he too is approaching the dangerous mid-30s. Ishant Sharma may have done well against Bangladesh, but against a quality opponent like South Africa, he was back to his insipid worst. The change in action hasn’t made an inch of difference. Ishant has to do some real soul-searching.

There was a time in Indian cricket was spinners used to run through the best of opponents at home. But, since the retirement of Anil Kumble things have definitely changed, and how. Everyone now seems tired of pointing out that Harbhajan Singh is not the same bowler he was in 2001. He has lost the zip and nip that made him such a force to reckon with.

One can of course give him the benefit of doubt saying, he bowled on the first two days of the Test when the pitch was at its best. However, the fact of the matter remains that such performances have become far too common for comfort from India’s point of view. Unfortunately, he is still the best spinner we have on offer. Speaking of Amit Mishra, he had an impressive debut against Australia, but has done precious little since. The leggie needs to prove sooner rather than later that it wasn’t a one-off.

Despite the disastrous batting performance, one would do well not to read too much into it. Gautam Gambhir’s failure was long overdue. Virender Sehwag could not carry on to make a big hundred and Sachin Tendulkar’s ton wasn’t enough. Also, one cannot replace legends like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman overnight. The duo has led the Indian fight back on innumerable occasions and was sorely missed. Even so the youngsters need to be given some time to settle down into the scheme of things.

Amidst all the calamitous happenings, there were a few positives. Debutants S Badrinath and Saha did show some spunk, which augurs well for the future. Murali Vijay looked good, but yet again fell in his nervous 30s. At the end of the day, India may have lost embarrassingly, but it wasn’t a bad result considering the long-term targets of the team, as they unwittingly got a peek into the future.

It’s a clash of the two big titans—the two giants—the top two ranked teams in the world. South Africa and India clash at Nagpur in what is being termed the ‘world championship of cricket’. As we move into the series let’s have a look at which players to look out for and who’re the odds favouring.

South Africa

AB De Villiers: AB de Villiers did set the world on fire the last time he was here. He played beautifully all round the wicket and was one of the few batsmen on their debut tour to India to perform so well. He announced himself into world cricket with a very timely and aggressive century.

He’s been in pretty good knick in lead up to the series. He’s been getting pretty decent start but how would he love to convert one of ‘em into a century. He is a mainstay in the South African middle order along with Jacques Kallis and the proteas will be heavily reliant on the duo to provide some stability in the middle order. De Villiers is a brilliant fielder and must be kept an eye on—the man pulls out catches from absolute thin air.

Jacques Kallis: He has now turned 34 and with his medium pace is one of the best all rounder’s the game has ever seen. Kallis will be keen after a certain lay off and would love to grind (that’s the sort of character he is, isn’t he?) his way out of India with some runs and wickets under his belt. Now that he has returned to full fitness his bowling will come in handy for South Africa. With his slightly round arm action he should be a handful especially with the old ball where he would be able to reverse swing the ball in these conditions.

Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn: Steyn had a wonderful tour the last time he was here. Both Morkel and Steyn are more than capable of bowling a 150 kmph per hour and a swinging ball at that pace especially with a relatively inexperienced middle order (barring Sachin) against them. The Indian batsmen certainly do have their work cut out.

Morkel earlier mentioned that he would be looking to bowl a quite a few short ones considering the Indian batsmen problems with the bumpers. Steyn said “I’ve said many times before, a 150 or 145 km Yorker is absolutely no different whether you bowl it here in Nagpur, Chennai, Johannesburg, Perth. It’s the skill behind the delivery that is what counts at the end of the day”. The Indians would have to be wary of the duo see of the new ball and take it from there.

India

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir: The duo are just over 200 runs short of becoming India’s most successful opening combination (in tests) statistically. Often in the recent past its been the opening pair of Sehwag and Gambhir that has given the middle order batsmen the platform to step upon. Their contribution is invaluable and they seem to complement each other pretty well with Sehwag being the aggressor. It wouldn’t be too surprising if they duo do have a good series (been the trend in the recent past) India should be in good stead to take the series from there.

Sachin Tendulkar: The more said about him the less it is. Sachin with his record has already made us expect from him. He being the senior man in the middle order with Dravid and laxman doubtful. He needs to shoulder the innings. The old man should do well and if he does so India goes with him.

Zaheer khan: He’s the only pace bowler who seems guaranteed of a place. His new ball bowling and more importantly his reverse swing will surely be one to deal with. If India has to win they need to come up with a very good bowling performance and if that has to happen Zaheer khan has to be at his best.

It’s India VS South Africa. Its world number 1 VS world number 2. It the clash of the champions—the world championship of cricket— promises to be an enthralling series.