PUNE: Former Maharashtra speedster Pandurang Salgaonkar will get a chance to redeem himself when the Gahunje stadium hosts a Test match between India and South Africa from Thursday. A lot has happened in Salgaonkar’s life in the last two and a half years. The 69-year-old, who looks after the pitch and ground preparation at the international facility at MCA, faced heavy criticism after the Test between India and Australia in Feb 2017 lasted only three days, with spinners taking 31 wickets between them. Being the first ever Test in Pune made it worse. The ICC had rated the wicket as ‘poor’. The MCA didn’t take any chances for the IPL matches the same year, roping in former Maharashtra captain and national selector Surendra Bhave to assist Salgaonkar for the April-May tournament. Salgaonkar, unfortunately, was then caught in a sting operation related to pitch fixing just before the India-New Zealand ODI on the same ground four months later. Though the efforts to disturb the ODI beyond repair weren’t successful, Salgaonkar was suspended by International Cricket Council (ICC) for six months for failing to report the incident to the anti-corruption authorities. Though MCA recalled Salgaonkar for the job as soon as his…