From struggle to skill, Harmer demonstrates decade-long evolution

Pretend you're reading just this after both teams had batted once in the Eden Gardens Test. Pretend it's the point at which South Africa have limited India's lead to just 30 runs and the match is still evenly poised and bubbling with promise. Pretend that the most important talking point is how a South African attack did what South African attacks are known for and brought their side back into the game, this time without Kagiso Rabada, this time thanks to Simon Harmer.

The offspinner made the most important incisions on the day when he removed Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja, all of whom threatened to bat South Africa out of the game, and finished with 4 for 30. He extracted more turn than anyone else in the match so far - including the Indian spinners - with an average of 4.3 degrees, and quickly assessed the right lines, length and pace to bowl for maximum efficacy.

Harmer's game plan developed in the solitary over he bowled on the first evening when he started off bowling quite full to Washington, then pulled back the length a touch, drew Washington forward and nearly took the edge. The ball spun away sharply and didn't find Washington's bat but Harmer knew he could use that to his advantage on day two.

"From that first over last night over against Washington, it was quite evident that the ball was going to turn and you want to be testing batters on the front foot," Harmer said at the post-day press conference. "If you allow them time to go back, it allows them to adjust and play the turn off the wicket. So you try to test batters on the front foot and test their front foot defence, which allows the ball to spin past the bat and brings in both edges. Then you also try and get one not to turn to bring in lbw, but overall, it was pretty evident that you needed to be fuller rather than shorter on that wicket."

Fuller but not entirely full. Harmer bowled 47 of his 92 balls on that length and was especially effective against left-hand batters. He only conceded nine runs off the 38 length deliveries he bowled to left-handers. He was also accurate with his line - 39% of his deliveries were sent down in line with the stumps, leaving batters little room to do anything but defend.

That's ultimately how he got Washington, an hour into the second day's play. Harmer first went very full and then more on a good length, Washington stepped forward to defend and the ball took the edge as it turned away. He similarly challenged Rishabh Pant. Jurel also went forward and popped a return catch to Harmer and with Jadeja, it was the arm ball that skidded on.

"It's also about having the subtle variations of balls that don't turn," he said. "Sometimes you get onto turning wickets, you're just trying to turn it more and more and more and the skill lies in bowling a ball that doesn't turn on a wicket that is turning. Obviously, I've got a lot more experience since the last time I was here."

If there is a secret to Harmer's success, it's that he has returned to India a decade after first playing in the country, armed with much more knowledge and skill, and his bowling demonstrates his full evolution.

Harmer's international career can be divided into three parts: his emergence in 2015, his needs-must recall in 2022 during the late Covid-19 pandemic period when several frontliners were at the IPL, and his proper comeback now.

In 2015, Harmer was a spinner who had been highly successful on the South African domestic circuit, but because it was not a place known to produce great spinners, he did not come into the national set-up with the reputation of a match-winner. He played one Test at home before tours to the subcontinent and he felt the weight of expectation to perform. "I was quite new to Test cricket. Ravi Ashwin was bowling like a jet and it was the expectation that I needed to do the same, so I was dealing with that and putting myself under even more pressure," Harmer said.

South Africa lost that series 3-0 (and would have lost 4-0 if not for rain in Bengaluru) and Harmer was one of the casualties of the tour that went as badly as it could. Looking back, he can acknowledge his own shortcomings. "When I got dropped from the national side in 2015 was when I realised that I wasn't good enough," he said.

So he worked on it. "I came back to India in 2016 to work with Umesh Patwal in Mumbai and I discovered a lot about spin bowling that I didn't know. That was probably the point of my career that gave me the ammunition to get better and develop and become a decent spinner."

That was only the start. In 2017, Harmer signed a Kolpak deal, which began a nine-season-and-counting stint at Essex, where he took his game to the next level. In those nine years, he has not once been outside the country championship's top ten wicket-takers (he was also the leading bowler in 2019, 2020, and 2022) and the consistency of his returns shows a commitment to continual upskilling. "In the UK, bowling on flat wickets or when there are footmarks and nothing outside of those footmarks, you need to find a way to get the ball to spin quickly," he explained. "It's a skill that I've developed there by being able to bowl it a little bit flatter, not always just relying on the loop. Sometimes on slow wickets, it's too slow and batters can play off the back foot. So it's about understanding my game more and finding ways to be better."

When the Kolpak system ended after the UK's exit from the European Union, Harmer was available for South Africa, but Keshav Mahraraj was established as their No. 1. Harmer has understood that he will likely only be called on when South Africa need additional spin resources. And then, he can bring the wealth of experience he has gained on the county circuit to the national side.

"I'm a lot more confident in my ability. I don't have as many doubts as I did back then and I was fighting for a place in the team," he said. "Now I feel like I have the skill set to compete. Whether or not it goes my way is sometimes the luck of the draw, but as long as I can look back and say that I put a good amount of balls in the right area, then I can be happy with that."

If the day had ended there, Harmer could have left the ground entirely satisfied with his work and where he had put South Africa. From a first innings blowout, they were in a position where they could put themselves in the driving seat but to think they did that, we'd have to pretend.

South Africa finished effectively 63 for 7, with Harmer next in to bat. He will have to do the same job he did with the ball, and drag South Africa into the contest to give them, and mostly himself, a chance to bowl India out cheaply. He knows it won't be easy.

"In an ideal situation, you've got 300 on the board, and you can set attacking fields but it becomes quite intricate when you've only got 150 on the board, and you need to take wickets but you also can't leak runs," he said. "It's quite evident that the pitch is going to do enough. It's just about not getting carried away and making sure that you're putting as many balls in the right areas as you possibly can. We all know that we need to be at our best but we have the belief that we can still pull ourselves back into this game."

Or, at least, they can pretend to.