India, Nov. 18 -- For a change, the focus at Eden Gardens on Tuesday, what should have ideally been the fifth day of the first Test, wasn't on the pitch. Sodden black from the generous watering that it was devoid of for nearly five days before the Test began, the track barely caught a second glance from the Indian team even though some grass that had not knitted properly earlier was finally popping up. Sujan Mukherjee-the curator the nation wants an answer from-was doing the rounds, exchanging pleasantries with Gautam Gambhir and Sitanshu Kotak, signalling all was well. It definitely wasn't.

Game over in less than three days, Eden was hung and quartered as a venue unfit to host Test cricket in that vast vacuum of virtual courthouse we ca...