South Africa get Bumrah-ed on a surface they couldn't 'trust'

It only took three balls for the gauntlet to be laid down at Eden Gardens. The second delivery of the Test died on Aiden Markram and then on Rishabh Pant, swung late and scooted away for four byes. The third ball then spat up off a length and kissed the splice of Markram's bat. What would the next three do? And the ones after that? With those questions posed so early, South Africa knew they'd spend the innings guessing.

"The signs were there pretty early on that the bounce is not consistent," Ashwell Prince, South Africa's batting coach said at the post-day press conference. "Quite often you expect that when batters get to 20 or 30, they grow in confidence but I don't particularly believe that any of the batters grew in confidence because of the inconsistency of the bounce. What can happen then is that you don't trust the surface as much as you should."

So the challenge was going to the one South Africa expected, albeit not in the way they expected it: conditions, but in the form of uneven bounce. South Africa had spent the bulk of their preparation discussing spin - and with good reason given the scars of 2015 in particular - and believed their recent successes in Bangladesh and Pakistan proved they were ready to take that. But were they ready for India? Were they ready for the quality and relentlessness of their attack?

Initially, maybe. Ryan Rickelton showed good intent upfront and Markram battled through what Prince called the "best nought off 22 balls that I've ever seen, in terms of his positions and his movement". Even when Markram wasn't quite sure what to do, when he left a Mohammed Siraj delivery that shaped back, he ended up making a good decision (maybe a lucky one?) to leave, and his off stump remained intact. Then, he found his timing and his first runs came from a couple of straight drives laced with class.

At 57 without loss after 10 overs, South Africa would have been satisfied and may have even forgotten the danger that lurked in an extended Jasprit Bumrah spell. But any feelings of being settled would have left when Bumrah, in his sixth over, found late movement as Rickelton played down the wrong line and was bowled. And any hope that was pinned on Markram's vigil clearing the way for a long innings evaporated when, in his seventh over, Bumrah found that extra bounce again and took the shoulder of Markram's bat as he tried to fend it off. At the end of the spell, Bumrah was convinced he had Temba Bavuma out lbw but height (both the ball's and Bavuma's) stopped India from reviewing. Irrespective of Bavuma surviving then, South Africa were rocked.

"It was a sensational bowling display, particularly from Bumrah," Prince said, resigned that Markram, especially, was a sitting duck to the delivery that dismissed him. "He looked really comfortable, and then one just bounces off a length, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. There were quite a few good deliveries all round and sometimes as batters, there's not a lot you can do about them."

South Africa could not even be relieved that Bumrah's spell was done. Kuldeep Yadav bowled the next over and Bavuma had already articulated the difficulties of facing him from last week's A team match. "It takes a little bit of time to get used to him," Bavuma said pre-match. "He is not a massive turner, but he can deceive you with the ball turning away and turning in. You just need an extra bit of time to understand his nuances."

Then, Bavuma faced him on a benign Bengaluru pitch; here there was some turn and Bavuma fell to a leg-side trap. Bavuma's case could be considered in isolation to the rest of the line-up because of how much time he has spent on the sidelines with injury. The last Test he played was the World Test Championship final in June and he has not played in either of South Africa's most recent series in the subcontinent so his doubts could have come from more than just the pitch; they may have to do with his own game. Still, Bavuma falling cheaply left the middle-order exposed against an Indian attack that offered no let-up.

Post lunch, Bumrah and Kuldeep operated in tandem to create a pressure cooker that South Africa could not escape from. Then Siraj, with a change of ends "found his rhythm and his lines" as Prince put it. Of the shot selection, only Wiaan Mulder's reverse sweep can come under the scanner though Prince was careful not to assess it too harshly: "I wouldn't want to put too much blame on one particular shot as that was also the stroke he used to get himself off the mark. We encourage the batters to play their options, to back themselves and play their game, so I wouldn't necessarily put any blame on that. One can argue that because you don't trust the surface as much in terms of consistency, perhaps it created some doubt about hitting the ball over the top. Should I try to hit over the top? Is the bounce going to be low? Is it going to hit the bottom end of my bat? And perhaps that's what influences people's minds while they're out there."

The uncertainty of how to go about scoring runs was best seen in the return of Tristan Stubbs, who was unbeaten on 15 off 74 balls and spent four minutes short of two hours effectively going nowhere. A similar strategy worked for Stubbs in Pakistan, where he scored 29 from 100 balls on his way to 76 but he had a partner in Tony de Zorzi for much of that innings. De Zorzi was Bumrah-ed for 24 in this match, out lbw, and none of the rest of the line-up stayed with Stubbs for too long.

Should he have adopted such a defensive mindset given that wickets were falling? Maybe best to remember that Stubbs has had a tough 2025 across all formats and hadn't scored a Test fifty in the last home summer. It will explain why he was so conservative in trying to keep his place but that doesn't mean he shouldn't relook at it. Prince suggested he would: "We'll have some discussions about which type of options we can take, more aggressive options but every batter also comes with his own mentality. Everybody's got his own character, and his own type of style that he brings to the game. Most of the time, we trust people to play within their character but obviously, we have to take the surface into consideration. Next time, second innings, we have to play the conditions."

They must not forget that they will also have to play against the quality of India's attack, who have the ability to use the conditions to make things doubly difficult.