KOLKATA: Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah claimed a five-wicket haul as India bowled out South Africa for 159 on the opening day of the first cricket Test on Friday.
Electing to bat in Kolkata at the start of the two-match series, reigning world Test champions South Africa lost regular wickets and were bowled out off 55 overs.
In reply, India were 37-1 at stumps, trailing South Africa by 122 runs on a pitch that looked good for batting.
Left-arm quick Marco Jansen removed Yashasvi Jaiswal for 12 when the left-handed opener chopped a delivery on to his stumps.
With the red ball in use, even with the floodlights on, it grew so dark that play was halted early at the iconic Eden Gardens. KL Rahul was on 13 and left-handed Washington Sundar on six.
The visitors had suffered a setback even before a ball was bowled when their premier fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was ruled out with a rib injury.
“KG (Rabada) is a world class bowler,” South African batting coach Ashwell Prince said. “So he’ll definitely be missed on the surface, because I do think it is actually aiding the fast bowlers.”
Rabada is under observation after he sustained the injury in the team’s first training session on Tuesday and failed a fitness test on the morning of the opener.
Bumrah, who took his 16th five-wicket haul in Test cricket after, struck twice in the third over after tea.
After a 57-run stand between openers Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton, South Africa faltered against the Indian attack.
Kuldeep Yadav — one of the four spinners in the Indian XI — and fast bowler Mohammed Siraj took two wickets each.
Opening batter Markram took 23 deliveries to get off the mark but did so with a glorious straight drive for four off Siraj.
Spin was introduced in the eighth over with Axar Patel bowling his left-arm orthodox but Markram kept up the attack.
Bumrah (5-27) broke the opening stand when he bowled left-hander Rickelton for 23 to raise the noise of acrowd of around 36,000.
Bumrah then produced a gem to send back Markram, caught behind for 31 on a rising ball that hit the glove and returning wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant completed a diving catch.
Kuldeep kept up the bowling charge and had skipper Temba Bavuma caught at leg slip for three.
Wiaan Mulder and Tony de Zorzi — who both scored 24 — took the team past 100 and into lunch before Kuldeep trapped Mulder lbw with the batsman attempting a reverse sweep off the left-arm wrist spinner.
Bumrah ended de Zorzi’s defiance lbw and the batter, like Mulder, wasted a review. Both showed the ball hitting the stumps.
Wickets kept tumbling as Siraj picked two in the space of four balls, with Kyle Verreynne lbw for 16 and Jansen bowled for a duck.
SCOREBOARD
SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings):
A. Markram c Pant b Bumrah 31
R. Rickelton b Bumrah 23
W. Mulder lbw Yadav 24
T. Bavuma c Jurel b Yadav 3
T. de Zorzi lbw Bumrah 24
T. Stubbs not out 15
K. Verreynne lbw Siraj 16
M. Jansen b Siraj 0
C. Bosch lbw Patel 3
S. Harmer b Bumrah 5
K. Maharaj lbw Bumrah 0
EXTRAS (B-8, LB-4, NB-1, W-2) 15
TOTAL (all out, 55 overs) 159
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-57 (Rickelton), 2-62 (Markram), 3-71 (Bavuma), 4-114 (Mulder), 5-120 (de Zorzi), 6-146 (Verreynne), 7-147 (Jansen), 8-154 (Bosch), 9-159 (Harmer)
BOWLING: Bumrah 14-5-27-5 (1w, 1nb), Siraj 12-0-47-2 (1w), Patel 6-2-21-1, Yadav 14-1-36-2, Jadeja 8-2-13-0, Sundar 1-0-3-0
INDIA (1st Innings):
Y. Jaiswal b Jansen 12
K. L. Rahul not out 13
W. Sundar not out 6
EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-4) 6
TOTAL (for one wicket, 20 overs) 37
FALL OF WICKET: 1-18 (Jaiswal)
STILL TO BAT: S. Gill, R. Pant, R. Jadeja, D. Jurel, A. Patel, K. Yadav, J. Bumrah, M. Siraj
BOWLING: Jansen 6-2-11-1 (2nb), Mulder 5-1-15-0 (2nb), Maharaj 5-1-8-0, Bosch 3-2-1-0, Harmer 1-1-0-0
Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2025
