Simon Harmer celebrates with team-mates after dismissing Ravindra Jadeja.
Credit: PTI photo
Kolkata: An eerie silence enveloped Eden Gardens the moment Mohammed Siraj edged Keshav Maharaj to Aiden Markram at slip. Until that last piece of play, the iconic venue was a cauldron of cacophony with over 35,000 crowd rooting for an Indian victory till the last minute. With Shubman Gill declared unfit to bat with a stiff neck, the opening Test ended a few minutes into the extended middle session.
An ecstatic South Africa, who were clear underdogs, broke into unbridled celebration to mark their first Test win in 15 years on Indian soil.
Set a target of 124 after South Africa, overnight 93/7, dragged their second innings to 153 all out in 53 overs, India failed the spin test once again by crashing to 93 all out with Simon Harmer adding another 4/21 to go with his first innings haul of 4/30. Their lead spinner Keshav Maharaj, who endured an underwhelming outing, had something to cheer about after accounting for India's last two wickets off successive balls.
Only Washington Sundar (31) showed the gumption to fight it out on what was a difficult wicket to bat on from day 1 while Dhruv Jurel, who played as a specialist batter based on his recent form, should be disappointed with himself for the manner he got out in the second innings immediately after lunch.
While wickets have tumbled like a house of cards in this match, KL Rahul and Washington in the first, and Temba Bavuma (59) and Corbin Bosch in the second had, shown even small partnerships can prove significant in low-scoring matches. Where India had just two 18-plus stands in the second innings, South Africa had four with the 62 runs that Bavuma added with Bosch and Harmer for the eighth and ninth wickets turning out to be critical in South Africa winning and India losing.
India struggled hard to get their first wicket before Bumrah relieved some tension with the dismissal of Bosch. Siraj was brought in rather late into the attack, but got the job done in a jiffy with two wickets in as many overs to end South Africa's lower-order resistance. After Bavuma survived a close call for LBW with the help of DRS, Siraj broke Harmer's off-stump into two halves before removing Maharaj with a toe-crusher off the last ball of his second over.
India's chase was always going to be tricky, especially with a batter short in Gill. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for a four-ball duck after being nicely set up by Marco Jansen (2/15) who bowled his first two deliveries wide outside off and sent down the next ball down the leg.
The gangling seamer bowled fourth on the fourth-stump line, eliciting an edge from the left-hander to draw first blood. The pacer then got the big one in the next over with a steep bounce from a back of length catching Rahul by surprise and his attempted slash only resulting in a top edge to Kyle Verreynne as India went into lunch on a shaky 10 for two.
Upon resumption, Jurel essayed an absolute rank bad shot that resulted in a catch in the deep and pushed India's chase into a deeper crisis. Ravindra Jadeja appeared to steady the innings with his typical batting smarts but took one the full by Harmer while attempting a sweep.
Rishabh Pant never looked the part and when Washington poked one to slip, the chase was all but over. Axar provided some excitement with a couple of sixes off Maharaj but eventually miscued one shot. Bavuma covered a significant ground running backwards to complete an excellent catch under pressure.
SCORE BOARD
SOUTH AFRICA (I Innings): 159 all out
INDIA (I Innings): 189 all out
SOUTH AFRICA (II Innings; O/n: 93/7):
Rickelton lbw Kuldeep 11
(23b, 28m, 1x4)
Markram c Jurel b Jadeja 4
(23b, 33m)
Mulder c Rahul b Jadeja 11
(30b, 34m, 1x4)
Bavuma (not out) 59
(136, 188m, 4x4)
de Zorzi c Jurel b Jadeja 2
(2b, 2m)
Stubbs b Jadeja 5
(18b, 26m)
Verreynne b Axar 9
(16b, 17m, 1x4)
Jansen c Rahul b Kuldeep 13
(16b, 1x6)
Bosch b Bumrah 25
(37b, 47m, 2x4, 1x6)
Harmer 7
(20b, 31m)
Maharaj lbw Siraj 0
(3b, 4m)
Extras (LB-11) 11
Total (all out, 54 overs) 153
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Rickelton), 2-25 (Markram), 3-38 (Mulder), 4-40 (de Zorzi), 5-60 (Stubbs), 6-75 (Verreynne), 7-91 (Jansen), 8-135 (Bosch), 9-153 (Harmer).
Bowling: Bumrah 10-2-24-1, Axar 14-0-36-1, Kuldeep 8-1-30-2, Jadeja 20-3-50-4, Siraj 2-0-2-2.
INDIA (II Innings):
Jaiswal c Verreynne b Jansen 0
(4b, 2m)
Rahul c Verreynne b Jansen 1
(7b, 10m)
Washington c Harmer b Markram 31
(92b, 123m, 2x4)
Jurel c Bosch b Harmer 13
(34b, 49m, 3x4)
Pant c & b Harmer 2
(13b, 21m)
Jadeja lbw Harmer 18
(26b, 31m, 2x4)
Axar c Bavuma b Maharaj 26
(17b, 31m, 1x4, 2x6)
Kuldeep lbw Harmer 1
(13b, 11m)
Siraj c Markram b Maharaj 0
(1b, 1m)
Gill (absent hurt)
Extras (LB-1) 1
Total (all out, 35 overs) 93
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Jaiswal), 2-1 (Rahul), 3-33 (Jurel), 4-38 (Pant), 5-65 (Jadeja), 6-72 (Washington), 7-77 (Kuldeep), 8-93 (Axar).
Bowling: Jansen 7-3-15-2, Harmer 14-4-21-4, Maharaj 9-1-37-2, Bosch 2-0-14-0, Markram 3-0-5-1.
Result: South Africa won by 30 runs; Series: SA lead 2-Test series 1-0; PoM: Simon Harmer. Next Test: Nov 22-26 (Guwahati).