Jasprit Bumrah’s 5-for blows South Africa away as India dominate opening day at Eden Gardens

Kolkata : Team India was on fire on a bright, sunny day at the Eden Gardens here on Friday. There was swing, bounce and turn as the Indian attack, led by the peerless Jasprit Bumrah — who took 5/27 — decimated the opposition batting as South Africa were bowled out for 159 in their first innings after electing to bat first.The repeated pitch inspection by the Indian think-tank led to the hosts playing four spinners — a rarity — at the expense of Sai Sudharsan, who, despite scoring 87 in his previous Test, had to sit out for the sake of strategy. That might not have been necessary as the cherry blossomed through Bumrah’s fingers. The pacer, aided by some helpful conditions, picked up his 16th fivewicket haul in Tests in his first red-ball game at the Eden.

The Indian reply was slow and steady in the face of some penetrative bowling by the South African pacers. South Africa, unfortunately, have to cope with the absence of Kagiso Rabada, who is out with a rib injury. With Marco Jansen sending back Yashasvi Jaiswal, India will resume on Saturday at 37/1.The floodlights, as expected, had to be switched on towards the day’s end. With Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer extracting turn, South Africa might also miss the services of left-arm orthodox spinner Senuran Muthusamy.

True to its nature, the Eden Gardens wicket provided help to pacers in the morning. Apart from swing and bounce there was carry too, something which India coach Gautam Gambhir had wanted. There was also the odd ball which did not rise enough, planting seeds of doubt in the batters’ minds. South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince later referred to “inconsistence bounce” as a reasons for some discomfort to their batters.Ryan Rickelton was going quite well till a good-length delivery from Bumrah left him just a shade after pitching, knocking off his off stump. Rickelton had earlier gone after

Mohammed Siraj

and ended with a run-a-ball 23. Aiden Markram was slow to start with and looked well settled when Bumrah stunned him with a sharply rising beauty. Markram had waited for 23 balls before opening his scoring with a copybook straight-driven boundary, following it with an equally classic cover drive to the ropes, both off Siraj.It had seemed like a good toss to win for South Africa captain Temba Bavuma, but in the end it didn’t quite look like the right call, thanks to Bumrah’s magic.Siraj, on the other hand, looked inconsistent to begin with. Compare the first spells of the two: Bumrah’s figures read 7-4-9-2 while Siraj returned 3-0-250. The contrast was evident in not just the numbers but also the way batters tackled the two.Axar Patel’s introduction in the eighth over will rank among the earliest introduction of spin in Test cricket. In fact, by lunch, India had used all their four spinners, including

Kuldeep Yadav

, who justified his selection by dismissing Bavuma with a gentle turner.

The South Africa captain had reckoned on eve of the Test that Kuldeep wasn’t a big turner, but a wicket taker. His words proved prophetic as he lost his own wicket.With South Africa at 105/3, India went into lunch with their noses ahead. The hosts stayed ahead post lunch too, with Kuldeep and Bumrah breaking down Wiaan Mulder and Tony de Zorzi’s resistance before Siraj took two wickets in four balls.Soon after tea, the World Test champions packed up for a belowpar score.