IND vs SA, Kolkata Test Day-1: The first match of the two-match Test series between India and South Africa is being played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. South Africa, who won the toss and elected to bat first, were all out for 159 runs in the first innings. Jasprit Bumrah wreaked havoc, taking five wickets.
India Playing-11: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
South Africa Playing-11: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma(c), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne(w), Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj.
After South Africa's first innings was bundled out quickly, the Indian team suffered its first blow in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was dismissed cheaply. Yashasvi was dismissed after scoring 12 runs off 27 balls with the help of three fours. He was caught by Jansen. After this, KL Rahul and Washington Sundar took over the innings. Interestingly, Washington came to bat at number three. In the last one year, Washington is the sixth batsman whom India has sent to bat at number three in Tests. Before him, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan, KL Rahul, Karun Nair and Devdutt Padikkal have batted at this position.
Earlier in this match South Africa won the toss and elected to bat, and Markram, along with Rickleton, gave the team a solid start. Markram took 23 balls to open his account, but he began with a superb straight drive and cover drive, and then played a superb late cut over backward point against Axar Patel. He used his wrists to hit a magnificent six over mid-wicket. Meanwhile, Ryan Rickleton began to trouble India with an aggressive 23 off 22 balls, laced with four fours.
Bumrah gave India their first breakthrough by dismissing Rickleton, breaking a 57-run partnership. His next over was even more impressive. The ball bounced sharply, giving Markram no time to adjust. The ball bounced off his gloves and went into the gloves of wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, who was returning to the team after recovering from injury. Bumrah then troubled South African captain Temba Bavuma, but he was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav. De Georgi and Mulder, who were in excellent form, played cautiously and tried to build a comeback for the team, but Mulder was trapped leg before wicket while attempting a reverse sweep against Kuldeep in the second session of the day. Bumrah dealt a major blow to South Africa by dismissing De Georgi.
Siraj, who had leaked 34 runs in the first six overs, destroyed South Africa's lower middle order with a brilliant double wicket in his 10th over. He dismissed Kyle Verreynne (16) and Jansen (0) in the space of four balls. A ball before the tea break, Axar Patel trapped Corbin Bosch (3) LBW while Bumrah completed the formality with two wickets at the start of the third session. For India, apart from Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets each, while Axar Patel got one wicket.
"The new ball was coming on nicely to the bat, but when the ball went soft, the bounce became low as well. My mindset was to bowl full and at the stumps. There has been some reverse swing on offer, if you bowl stump-to-stump, you'll get options to take wickets and it isn't easy for batters to score runs. One end is fine to bat, the other end - the bounce is variable and it's tough to score," Mohammad Siraj reflected on the nature of the pitch.
Bumrah's 16th Five-Wicket Haul
The brilliance of the experienced Indian fast bowler Bumrah was also seen in the Kolkata Test. Bumrah has taken five or more wickets in an innings of a Test for the 16th time. Bumrah has become the joint fifth bowler for India to take five wickets in an innings the most number of times. In this matter, he has equaled Bhagwat Chandrashekhar, who like Bumrah has taken five wickets in a Test innings 16 times. Bumrah has achieved this feat in 51 innings. The record for taking five wickets in an innings of a Test the most number of times for India is in the name of Ravichandran Ashwin, who has done so 37 times in 106 Test matches.
