Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 14 : India ripped off South Africa for just 159 in their first innings on Day 1 of the first Test at the Edens Garden on Friday. Jasprit Bumrah was the star of the show with his five-wicket haul as India dominated South Africa on Day 1 of the first Test in Kolkata.
India lost the wicket of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal in the final session; Proteas speedster Marco Jansen cleaned up Jaiswal for 12. India at stumps reached 37/1 after 20 overs, trailing by 122 runs, with KL Rahul and Washington Sundar at the crease.
Proteas started the final session on 154-8. Jasprit Bumrah returned after tea to skittle out the last two wickets as he bundled out Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj in the 55th over to square off South Africa's innings.
Bumrah was outstanding for his 5 for 27, Kuldeep was excellent as well, Mohammed Siraj had a slightly off-day, but he too chipped in with two wickets in an over.
Bumrah became the first fast bowler to pick a five-fer in the opening day of a Test in India, since Ishant Sharma, in a D/N Test against Bangladesh at the same venue in 2019.
Earlier in the match, exceptional bowling performance from Indian bowlers demolished South Africa's middle order and restricted them to 154/8 at the end of the second session in the first Test of the two-match series. At the stroke of Tea, South Africa are struggling at 154/8 in 52 overs with Tristan Stubbs 15* unbeaten on the crease.
South Africa started the second session at 104/3, with Mulder (22*) and de Zorzi (15*) unbeaten. Kuldeep Yadav struck early, trapping Mulder leg-before-wicket for 24 in 51 balls (with three fours), leaving SA at 114/4 in 29.5 overs.
Soon Zorzi also gave in to the pressure, trapped lbw by Bumrah for 24 in 55 balls, with a four and a six. SA had half their side down at 120 runs in 32.3 overs. Kyle Verreynne and Tristan Stubbs, two batters with an attacking game, were left to provide stability to the WTC champions.
When the partnership was building, Verreynne was trapped leg-before-wicket by Mohammed Siraj for just 16 runs, reducing SA to 146/6 in 44.1 overs. Siraj soon got his second, removing Marco Jansen without disturbing the scorers, leaving SA at 147/7 in 44.4 overs.
Proteas touched the 150-run mark in 47.4 overs. Axar Patel joined the party as well, getting a wicket of Corbin Bosch for single digits on the last ball of the session. At the end of the first session, SA was 104/3, with Mulder (22*) and de Zorzi (15*) unbeaten.
Electing to bat first, South African openers Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton were initially cautious, till Rickelton broke the shackles in the fourth over, making good use of a quick outfield and Mohammed Siraj's questionable lengths and getting two successive fours.
While Jasprit Bumrah was containing the runs pretty well on one hand, Siraj was leaking runs and undoing his hard work. As seen in the sixth over, he was struck with three boundaries, including a straight as an arrow cover drive and a scrumptious cover drive by Markram, which ended the over at a score of 31.
Siraj was taken off the attack, but the introduction of spin with Axar Patel did not exactly pay dividends, as Markram got two boundaries against him in the eighth over and a six over long-on in the 10th over. SA touched the 50-run mark by 9.2 overs, ending the first 10 overs at 57/0, with Markram (26*) and Rickelton (23*).
However, Bumrah beat the outside edge of Rickelton's bat and left the ball crashing into his off-stump, giving India their breakthrough in the 11th over. Rickelton was gone for 22-ball 23 (with four boundaries) and SA was 57/1 in 10.3 overs.
In the 12th over, extra bounce cost Markram his wicket as he attempted to get a feel for a fifth-stump delivery that bounced too high; the ball hit the shoulder of his bat, and Rishabh Pant dived to grab a catch. Markram was gone for a 48-ball 31 (with five fours and a six), with SA suddenly under the pump courtesy another piece of brilliance from Bumrah, at 62/2 in 12.1 overs.
The fresh pair of Temba Bavuma and Mulder had the task of taking the Proteas through the remainder of the session without a wicket. However, a delivery spinning back into Bavuma got the inside edge of his bat, with Dhruv Jurel ready to grab it at short-leg. Bavuma was gone for three, with SA at 71/3 in 16 overs.
Mulder continued playing some positive cricket, while de Zorzi, in his first outing in India, tried finding his footing, eventually freeing his arms on his 21st ball for a six over long-off against Kuldeep.
Proteas brought up their 100-run mark in 24.3 overs, putting up a fight against the class of Indian spinners and ended the session one without any other loss.
South Africa: 159 (Aiden Markram 31, Tony de Zorzi 24; Jasprit Bumrah 5/27) vs India 37/1 (KL Rahul 13, Yashasvi Jaiswal 12; Marco Jansen 1/11).