On a spiteful Eden Gardens surface that misbehaved from the first session to the last, India with no Shubman Gill, fell 30 runs short of a modest 124, slipping to 93 for nine and surrendering the opening Test to South Africa inside three days on Sunday.
In a match where batting was an act of survival, India were left one batter short with Shubman Gill ruled out due to a neck spasm – a disadvantage that stung even harder as wickets tumbled in clusters.
The tone of the collapse was set by Marco Jansen, who used the High Court End bounce like a toy only he knew how to operate.
The 2.06m left-armer squared up Yashasvi Jaiswal with a steep lifter for a four-ball duck, then returned around the wicket to rush KL Rahul into a glove-ball pop-up for one. At 2 for 2, India’s chase was already wobbling; the pitch, meanwhile, had long turned sinister.
Washington Sundar and Dhruv Jurel survived nervy examinations before lunch, but the post-interval session brought the decisive punch. Jurel, having just begun to play with some freedom, fell to what will remain the softest dismissal of the series – a rank long hop from Simon Harmer that held up just enough for him to miscue to deep mid-wicket. A gift of a ball turned into a gift of a wicket, dragging India to 33 for 4 and deeper into trouble.
Rishabh Pant’s return to the middle lasted just 13 balls before Harmer again worked his angles and bounce to have him caught for two. Ravindra Jadeja briefly resisted, striking 18 off 26, but Harmer’s relentless probing fetched him that too – the off-spinner finishing with four wickets as India’s middle order disintegrated.
Sundar, the lone flicker of resistance with 31 off 92, was undone by Aiden Markram’s off-spin, while Keshav Maharaj mopped up Axar Patel and Mohammed Siraj to seal a victory shaped as much by South Africa’s discipline as by India’s misjudgements.
Earlier, South Africa had crawled to 153 in their second innings, with Temba Bavuma delivering one of the finest 55* this venue has seen in years under such conditions.
His footwork was calm, his judgement even calmer, and his first-innings rust all but forgotten as he shepherded the tail. Corbin Bosch’s brisk 25 helped stretch the lead past 100 – a margin that looked above par on a wicket turning square from one end and spitting from the other.
India’s bowlers shared the spoils – Jadeja’s 4/50, Kuldeep’s 2/30, Siraj’s late burst and Bumrah’s solitary strike – but questions lingered around stand-in captain Pant’s decision to not use Bumrah from the more threatening Club House End, from where he’d claimed his first-innings five-for.
Axar Patel had warned on Day 2 that “you’re never in on this pitch”, insisting India needed to stay attacking and keep South Africa under 125. The bowlers duly did their part, restricting the target to 124. But the batters, unsettled by pace, turn and the psychological weight of the surface, failed to match that urgency.
A three-day Test at Eden is rare. One where 55* becomes match-defining is rarer. But on a treacherous pitch where every run gleamed with premium, Bavuma’s assurance and South Africa’s discipline proved just enough – and India’s batting, one short and several off-colour, proved far too little.