‘What India wanted’: Wild admission over ‘awful’ pitch as South Africa seal 15-year first

Spinner Simon Harmer claimed a match haul of eight wickets to lead South Africa to a thrilling 30-run win over India inside three days of a low-scoring opening Test that was overshadowed by a tense debate over the state of the pitch.

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India, without captain and leading batsman Shubman Gill who was ruled out because of a neck injury he suffered on Saturday, faltered in their chase of 124 to be bowled out for 93 in Kolkata.

Harmer, who had figures of 4-30 in the first Indian innings, struck key blows in the second session including getting Rishabh Pant caught and bowled for two to dent the opposition chase.

Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj struck twice in two balls to pack off India and trigger wild celebrations in the South African camp with the reigning world Test champions taking a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

It was South Africa’s first Test win in India in 15 years and came as a heated debate bubbled away in the background over the pitch, which India great Harbhajan Singh called a “mockery” of Test cricket.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan, meanwhile, described it as “awful”, with the widespread condemnation forcing Cricket Association of Bengal President Sourav Ganguly to defend the pitch ahead of the final day’s play.

“The pitch is what the Indian camp wanted. This is what happens when you don’t water the pitch for four days. Curator Sujan Mukherjee can’t be blamed,” Ganguly told News18 Bangla.

India coach Gautam Gambhir conceded as much in his press conference after the Test, declaring it was “not an unplayable wicket”.

“This pitch is exactly what we asked for and this is what we got. The curator, Sujan Mukherjee, was very supportive. I think it’s a wicket that can judge your mental toughness, because those who played with good defence scored runs,” said Gambhir.

“There were no demons in the wicket. This wasn’t an unplayable wicket Temba Bavuma also made runs, Axar also made runs, Washi also scored.

“The point is if we always talk about the wicket which you call a turning track, if you see the stats, majority of wickets were taken by seamers. We always talk about how the wicket is behaving you’ll see, in the 40 wickets, the majority have been taken by seamers.

“This was such a wicket that if you have decent technique, have mental toughness and the most important part is your temperament. I you grind and bat long enough, you can make runs. If you try to play attacking, it’ll be difficult. The players who defended well, like KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, they scored runs.

“I already said that if your defence is solid, it’s not a pitch where you cannot make runs. We have played on tracks like these before as well.”

India bowling coach Morne Morkel admitted after day two, which saw 16 wickets fall, that they had not anticipated the pitch deteriorating as quickly as it did.

“Yeah, look, I mean, to be honest with you, even we didn’t expect a wicket to deteriorate so quickly, we all thought when we watched that first couple of hours that it was a good wicket, so it did deteriorate quite quickly, which was unexpected,” Morkel said.

South Africa’s standout off-spinner Harmer, meanwhile, offered a different perspective to the overwhelming criticism when quizzed on the matter at the end of the second day.

“The wickets in 2015 were probably worse. If I think about the wicket in Mohali, it basically disintegrated on day one, and Nagpur was the same — I can remember craters on the wicket,” Harmer said.

“The ball has spun, but it hasn’t been every single ball. Look, India want to win the Test match and they want to play on wickets that suit them, so we’ve got to find a way to beat them in their own conditions.”

While India ended up tasting defeat, Axar Patel gave the crowd some cheer with his two sixes off Maharaj before the bowler had his revenge to send the batter caught out for 26 off 17 balls.

Pace spearhead Marco Jansen ripped out the Indian openers before lunch with the hosts effectively 10-3 in the absence of Gill, who is in hospital and “under observation”, at the break and Harmer soon took charge.

Jansen in his first over got the left-handed Yashasvi Jaiswal to nick a length delivery to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne, who then took a diving catch to dismiss Rahul.

South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma hit a defiant 55 not out in his team’s second innings total of 153.

Bavuma played a defiant knock to keep South Africa in the hunt after they resumed on 93-7 on a tough pitch with inconsistent bounce.

He started the day on 29 and played with grit to complete the first half-century of a low-scoring contest.

Bavuma’s 44-run eighth-wicket stand with overnight partner Corbin Bosch frustrated the Indian bowlers until pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah broke through.

Bumrah bowled Bosch for 25 before Bavuma reached his fifty in 122 balls, raising his bat to an applauding dressing room.

Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj shattered Harmer’s stumps for seven and removed last man Keshav Maharaj for a duck in the space of four balls as Bavuma ran out of partners.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja had figures 4-50.

South Africa fought back on day two after being all out for 159 on Friday after winning the toss and electing to bat.

They dismissed India for 189 on Saturday to keep the deficit to 30 before again faltering in their batting.

The second Test starts Saturday in Guwahati.