Kolkata, Nov. 20 -- 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 call social media. Sourav Ganguly has washed his hands of the matter, pushing the ball in Gambhir's court. Gambhir said this was exactly the pitch he had asked for, shifting the spotlight on his batters' inability to play turn and time. Nothing happens overnight, but India's batters turning up en masse at nets on Tuesday felt like the desperate last-night cramming before the final exams. Left-handed batters versus all types of net bowlers was the theme of the optional training. Off spinners, left-arm slow bowlers, left-arm pacers, right-arm pacer, even an ambidextrous spinner turned up at the Cricket Association of Bengal's summon. Sai Sudharsan and Dhruv Jurel began against spinners in adjacent nets wearing only one pad so that they use the bat more often than the pad to play the ball. Considering how Simon Harmer kept bringing lbw into the equation, it can be an effective way of dealing with the demons that prompt batters to not go on the front foot too often against spinners on pitches where the ball can get big on you if you retreat into the crease. Also on display were an array of sweeps and reverse sweeps from Sudharsan and Jurel. It's very much premeditated, as Temba Bavuma pointed out after the game, but it's also a percentage shot if the bat is rolled completely over the ball. That seemed to be the focus at both the nets, especially from Sudharsan who was also seen going down the crease against left-arm spinners. Sudharsan is tipped to return for the Guwahati Test, considering Shubman Gill is still recovering from neck spasms even though he has been released from the hospital. So the onus he was giving on getting his defence and offence right was understandable. If Sudharsan takes Gill's place, four out of the top-six batters become left-handed-Yashasvi Jaiswal, Washington Sundar and Rishabh Pant being the other three. Devdutt Padikkal stands an outside chance, but he too is left-handed. There's no way around it apart from really hammering out the issues, mental or technical. Washington seemed to be the only batter who displayed no problems with his defence, and given how profusely Gambhir was praising his technique, it's more or less certain that he will hold on to his place at No 3. He brought that calmness inside the nets as well, bursting at the seams of his conviction as he kept putting his body behind a straight bat when he was not leaving the balls outside his off stump. This squad still offers enough options to replace Gill. Outside it, Karun Nair has scores of 174*, 233, 4, 15 and 95 in the last three weeks. Rajat Patidar scored 205* at Indore last month, while Sarfaraz Khan too has the game to graft runs on dicey pitches. But the management pulling Nitish Reddy out of the ongoing India A series against South Africa A in Rajkot indicates a shift of thought that might ultimately lead to playing him at Guwahati. At whose place though? Logic dictates an allrounder should replace an allrounder. Sundar is set to retain his place though, Ravindra Jadeja is undroppable, and Axar Patel was the only other batter apart from the No 3 who Gambhir had praised for scoring runs even though he couldn't rein in his aggression. Does that mean Kuldeep Yadav is set to be dropped again? Given the flak the Eden pitch has got for the first Test, the BCCI curators must be treading cautiously in the buildup to the Guwahati Test. If the pitch ends up being flatter, it can always be argued that five bowlers can do the job of six. The world knows India have a real problem with their batting, and so it won't come as a surprise if Yadav is sacrificed as they would still be left with three spin bowling options who can also buttress the batting. And while that line of thought didn't get India across the line at Kolkata, the temptation to go for an added batting cover can prove to be too irresistible....