India have long curated home tracks that accentuate turn, but the assumption their own batters would master such conditions no longer appears safe following their defeat in the opening Test against South Africa.

On a treacherous Eden Gardens’ pitch, the ball bounced irregularly and turned sharply and none of the teams posted 200. Touring captain Temba Bavuma’s unbeaten 55 was the highest score by any batter.

India, a batter short as skipper Shubman Gill retired hurt in the first innings with a neck injury and did not bat in the second, were bundled out for 93 chasing 124 for victory.

South African spinners claimed 12 of the 18 Indian wickets in the match exposing the home batters’ vulnerabilities against the turning ball.

South Africa off-spinner Simon Harmer finished with a match haul of eight wickets to bag the player-of-the-match award.

It was jarring to home fans used to watching nimble-footed and supple-wristed Indian batters dominate spin.

India head coach Gautam Gambhir mounted a spirited defence of the much-maligned pitch on Sunday, shifting the conversation from conditions to competence.

“There were no demons in this wicket,” Gambhir told reporters in an assessment of their batting that led to the sobering defeat inside three days.

“It was not an unplayable wicket. It was a wicket where your technique can be judged, your mental toughness can be challenged, and more important than that is your temperament.

“The point is that you should be able to know how to play turn. And this is what we asked for and this is what we got. But when you don’t play well, this is what happens.

“I felt that if you are willing to put your head down and if you have a solid defence, if you have the temperament, you can definitely score runs. Yes, it might not be a wicket which is going to [allow you to] be very, very flamboyant, where you can play those big shots.

“But if you are willing to put your head down, definitely it’s a wicket where you can score. I still believe that irrespective of how the wicket was, 124 was chaseable.”

Opener KL Rahul’s 39 in the first innings was the highest score by an Indian batter in the match.

The 44-year-old Gambhir, who has lost nine of his 18 Tests as India head coach, has picked up a reputation for tough-talking and confrontation.

Earlier this year, on the tour of England, he was involved in an angry exchange with Surrey’s head groundsman at the Oval after the curator told him to stay at a certain distance while inspecting the pitch.

Meanwhile, winning captain Bavuma, who showed both technique and temperament, had no doubt about the difficulty of the pitch.

“I found it a bit tricky to trust the bounce of the wicket,” Bavuma said. “Some balls were bouncing nicely, others were squatting. So that was a bit tricky, which made cross-batted shots a bit harder. I always back my defence and my game is that simple — I just try to play around my defence.”

Bavuma did not disagree when asked if he felt South Africa beat India in their own game on a pitch like that.

“Yeah, probably true,” he told reporters. “We’ve come here knowing that the wickets are going to be spinner-friendly, similar to what we got in this game. So it didn’t come as a surprise.”

South Africa coach Shukri Conrad said he believed both teams were surprised by how the wicket behaved on the first day.

“We thought the wicket would (turn) on day one, but we did not bargain for as much turn and bounce, that threw both sides,” he told reporters, adding the victory, South Africa’s first in India since 2010, will give the team a huge boost in confidence.

“We won the World Test Championship final earlier in the year but this is right up there for us,” he said. “Playing at Eden Gardens and doing something we have not done for 15 years, you can only dream of coming here [and winning].

“The psyche now is that while we might not have the ability that a lot of teams have, or we have not tapped into that ability yet, what we lack in that we have certainly made up for in terms of playing as a unit. The resilience that we showed, we never give up and I am so proud in that group in terms of the belief that we have got.”

India have slipped to the fourth place in the World Test Championship standings after the loss and have plenty to ponder ahead of the second and final Test in Guwahati.

Gill was taken to hospital and later discharged, but is doubtful for the Test in Guwahati beginning on November 22.

India played spin-bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar at number three in Kolkata but B Sai Sudharsan is likely to reclaim his top-order place in Guwahati especially if Gill is not available.