South Africa endured yet another batting collapse in the evening session of Day Two of the first Test at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday.
The Proteas lost five wickets in the final session as India’s slow left-arm orthodox spinner Ravindra Jadeja ripped through the top order. The visitors were fortunate not to lose a sixth, with Marco Jansen and Temba Bavuma surviving reviews after technology showed the impact was outside the line of the stumps.
Jadeja (4/29) removed Aiden Markram (4) with a leading edge that was caught at leg-slip by Dhruv Jurel, before dismissing Wiaan Mulder (11) and Tony de Zorzi (2) in the same over. He later bowled Tristan Stubbs with a traditional away turn, leaving the middle-order batter stunned as the Proteas slumped to 60/5 with a lead of just 30.
Kyle Verreynne, having struggled in the first innings and during the recent Pakistan series, attempted an ambitious slog-sweep and paid the price, gifting Axar Patel (1/30) his first wicket of the innings.
Bavuma remained solid throughout his unbeaten 78-ball 29, carrying his side to stumps with seven wickets down and a lead of 63. Heading into Moving Day on Sunday, the Proteas will hope to squeeze out as many runs as possible to give their bowlers a competitive total to defend. With the pitch deteriorating faster than anticipated, they will back themselves to defend anything over 150.
Earlier, the bowlers once again rescued South Africa, restricting India to 189/9, with Shubman Gill (4) retiring hurt three balls into his innings.
Spinner Simon Harmer led the way in the second session, taking two wickets to complete a four-wicket haul — his third such return on Indian soil in Test cricket. The off-spinner caught and bowled the in-form Dhruv Jurel (14) and had Axar Patel (16) caught at backward point by Marco Jansen.
Jansen, quiet in the second session as he persisted with his usual back-of-a-length approach, found success after adjusting his length to bowl fuller in the afternoon.
The left-armer struck almost immediately, cleaning up India’s tailenders. He removed Kuldeep Yadav (1) and Mohammed Siraj (1), helping bowl India out for 189 and limiting their advantage to 30 runs heading into the third innings.
Scorecard as it stands:
South Africa (first innings): 159 all out (Aiden Markram 31; Jasprit Bumrah 5/27)
India (first innings): 189 (KL Rahul 39; Simon Harmer 4/30)
South Africa (second innings): 93/7 (Temba Bavuma 29 not out; Ravindra Jadeja 4/29)
