India vs South Africa: Decade-long evolution, a genuine tribute to Simon Harmer's passion

Together with Senuran Muthusamy and Maharaj, Harmer has helped form a spin trio that has rejuvenated South Africa’s fortunes in subcontinent.

Kolkata: A decade ago, Simon Harmer arrived in India as part of South Africa’s spin contingent for the Proteas’ four-Test tour in 2015. He missed the opening Test in Bengaluru and the final one in Delhi, but featured in the matches in Mohali and Nagpur, where India prepared rank turners.

The two pitches were so underprepared that even the Indian batters struggled, their highest total across four innings being only 215.

India won both encounters to secure the series after the drawn first Test, yet the outcome could easily have tilted in South Africa’s favour had they possessed more experienced spinners.

Harmer, then 26 and only two Tests into his career, managed to claim 10 wickets in India’s four innings, including two four-wicket hauls, but his efforts were not influential enough in such low-scoring contests.

It took Harmer a remarkable seven years to earn another Test cap after being dropped following the Nagpur debacle. With his Test career seemingly finished, he moved to the United Kingdom in 2017 on a Kolpak deal.

Before relocating to England, however, Harmer travelled to India in 2016 to train with Umesh Patwal in Mumbai. Patwal, now the coach of Assam’s Under-23 side, worked with him for a few days that would ultimately alter the trajectory of Harmer’s career.

“When I got dropped from the national side in 2015 was when I realised that I wasn’t good enough,” Harmer recalled.

“I came back to India in 2016 to work with Patwal in Mumbai and I discovered a lot about spin bowling that I didn’t know. That was probably the point of my career that gave me the ammunition to get better and develop and become a decent spinner.”

Patwal introduced Harmer to aspects of spin bowling he had never encountered and taught him techniques that were entirely new to him. In essence, Harmer had to unlearn much of what he had previously absorbed and develop fresh skills. His transformation yielded considerable success in County cricket over the following five to six years, until Britain’s exit from the European Union brought an end to Kolpak status and made him eligible to represent South Africa once more.

He returned to the Test side in March 2022, yet between that comeback and the recent tour of Pakistan, he played only five Tests, going without a match from January 2023 to October 2025 as Keshav Maharaj established himself as South Africa’s premier spinner.

A timely appeal to current South African coach Shukri Conrad would open another chapter in his career. “When Simon called me up a few months ago and he said he’s desperate to play for South Africa again, I was more desperate to have him back,” Conrad remarked after the Proteas’ victory in the first Test.

Together with Senuran Muthusamy and Maharaj, both of whom appear to possess a natural affinity for spin bowling owing to their Indian heritage, Harmer has helped form a spin trio that has rejuvenated South Africa’s fortunes on the subcontinent.

After drawing the series in Pakistan, South Africa have now taken an unassailable lead against India, with Harmer serving as the principal architect of their last two victories in Rawalpindi, where he took 8 for 125, and in Kolkata, where he produced figures of 8 for 51. Notably, 21 of his 60 Test wickets have come in the past three matches alone.

“I’m a lot more confident in my ability, I don’t have as many doubts as I did back then and I was fighting for a place in the team,” Harmer said when asked about his learnings from his previous tour of India. “I was quite new to Test cricket. Ravi Ashwin was bowling like a jet and it was the expectation that I needed to do the same, so I was dealing with that and putting myself under even more pressure.

“Now I feel like I have the skill set to compete. Whether or not it goes my way is sometimes the luck of the draw, but as long as I can look back and say that I put a good amount of balls in the right area, then I can be happy with that.”

The end of Kolpak may have revived Harmer’s international career, yet sustaining that desire despite advancing age, competition from younger spinners and limited opportunities at home for a spinner due to conditions, is a tribute to his passion.