India vs South Africa highlights, 1st Test Day 3 Updates: SA beat IND by 30 runs in Kolkata

With the narrative surrounding the India vs South Africa 1st Test match at Eden Gardens revolving around the erratic nature of the pitch provided, India head coach Gautam Gambhir dismissed all the talks about the pitch, reiterating that the pitch was exactly what India had wanted.

“This is exactly the pitch we were looking for. And I feel that the curator was very, very helpful. This is exactly what we wanted and this is exactly what we got. If you don’t play well, this is what happens,” Gambhir said to the media after India lost to South Africa by 30 runs, failing to overhaul a 123-run target. (READ MORE FROM SAYAK DUTTA)

The whites of South Africa, dirtied and crumpled, glowed in a shade of gold under the pre-evening sunshine. On the same stage they renewed international cricket 34 years ago, they scripted one of the finest moments in their history. In a nervous contest on a stinker of a pitch, they upended the hosts by 30 runs to secure an unassailable lead.

The winning moments captured the meaning of the moment. Keshav Maharaj, who bagged the last two wickets in as many balls to bundle out India for 93, he sprinted like a man possessed, a man in a state of pure bliss. Then his eyes searched for Temba Bavuma, whose resolute and unbeaten 55 had propelled the dream and who devoured the steepling catch of Axar Patel, India’s last flicker of hope. Bavuma had a firm grip on his emotions. He just walked with a gratified smile, like a man who believed the victory was possible. Once South Africa set 124, he knew the destiny of his team was in their own hands. Just at the stroke of tea, they completed the last stanza of an extraordinary poem, washing the stadium in tears. (READ MORE FROM SANDIP G)

"The point is you should know how to play turn. This is what we asked for, and this is what we got. I thought the curator was very supportive, and I still believe that regardless of how the wicket was, 123 was chaseable. I felt that if you were willing to put your head down, and if you have a solid defence, if you have the temperament, you can definitely score and, it might not be a wicket, which is going to be very, very flambant where you can play those big shots, but if you're willing to put your head down, definitely it's a wicket where you can score. This is exactly the pitch we were looking for. This is exactly the pitch, and I feel that, as I just mentioned before that the curator was very helpful and this is exactly what we wanted and this is exactly what we got. When you don't play well, this is what happens."

A game like this, you can't dwell into it too much. We should've been able to chase this score. The pressure built on us in the second innings and we weren't able to capitalise. Temba and Bosch had a brilliant partnership and that got them back into the game. There was help on the wicket, a score like 120 can be tricky, but as a team we should be able to soak in the pressure and capitalise. Haven't thought about it (improvements?), the match has just finished, will come back strong.

Very exciting. you want to be a part of those types of games and obviously be on the right side of the result. I think we tried to hold our ground as much as we could. We knew it was going to be tough with the bat, it was tough for us, but we needed to exploit what was there. I think we guys did that beautifully. Fortunately things have worked out quite well. ,Our bowlers got us back into the game, but that partnership with Bosch, I think a little bit with Marco as well, at the end of the day, just gave a little bit of impetus that we could play a little bit better this morning. It wasn't as extreme, but we were able to get a partnership. We tried to stay in the game as much as we could. It's not every time that you score 120-125 and you feel that that's a winning score. It was just a case of staying in the game and to keep believing. You're as good as your players really. Some of the bad stats, I give it to the players. From a batting point of view, I'm just comfortable with myself, with my technique, not to worry about triggering and all those type of things. I have a decent understanding of the game. I've come here to India wanting to do well. I don't have the greatest of records when it comes to these conditions. So it's a bit of that exuberance on my side to see myself learning these conditions and implement all the little things that I'm trying and keep contributing for the team. Opening up the leg a little bit (helped in the second innings). It was just an awareness the way I played it. Fortunately, I have played a few innings, so I understand a little bit of adjustments that you need to make. And luck, we all need luck. We didn't have KG today. He's our leader of the team. Obviously, in these conditions, we have Simon, we have Kesh, and they are becoming a formidable partnership. So I think that bowling attack of ours is definitely boosted by those two. (On the catch to dismiss Axar) It wasn't easy. I'm just glad I got a hand to it. Crucial moment again. Axar, he had momentum on his side and we kind of know how the Indian batters play. When they have momentum, they go even harder. So fortunately, he was able to make a mistake. I was able to grab him with my small hands. Those are those moments that you want to be a part of. You don't want to give it to someone else. You want to be doing it for the team.

I felt today, it got a little bit flatter as it wasn't exploding that much. Nice to contribute. To get here, to be in this position, to be behind the eight-ball again, to show the fight shows the belief we have. I am not a stats man, happy with the win. I knew I needed to bowl well. We felt like we were one partnership away from getting into the game. I needed to bowl in the right areas. I was quite lucky with Jurel's wicket and also Jadeja's and Pant's. Incredibly happy to be standing in this position. Personal accolades are trumped by team's success. If you get over-awed, you can get into a tricky situation. The boys as a unit bowled incredibly well.

I felt a little bit of nerves. It's hard to catch your breath with that sun setting, tried to be clear on my plans. Yeah, luckily I got the reward and a brilliant catch by Temba (on being first smashed by Axar and then taking his wicket). He was phenomenal (on Simon Harmer). He showed why he's got 1,000 first-half wickets. It's a privilege to bowl alongside him. It's been a brilliant feeling. There was a real hunger and desire to cross over the line. Very much so (on if the win in Pakistan set them up well for this tour). I think we take a lot of confidence, but we know the task at hand here in India. It's a different ball game when you come here. The guys are highly skilled, conditions are very different, but, you know, for our team to come a long way and tick the first box of this tour has been a phenomenal effort.  I think we know there's always a ball with your name on it, so consistency is key, and Simon showed it a lot better than I did in this Test, but also the fact that Temba showed us and gave us the field sets to allow us to ball the way we wanted to, one must give a lot of credit to him as well. Like I said, it's probably the one assignment that we hadn't ticked from a box perspective ( a Test win in India), but, you know, it's our first leg forward, we can be really, really, really proud of what we've achieved today.

Well, there it is. Maharaj has picked up two wickets in quick succession here and closed out the game. When Axar Patel was smacking Kesav Maharaj, it did seem like it was a huge gamble, but it did pay off in the end. What a blow this is to the Indian side. After losing three Tests in a row against New Zealand at home, they did manage a win against West Indies, while there is no disrespect to them, but once again, a quality team has come and India has been caught napping on turning wickets. That 1-0 lead for South Africa, we will be right back after the break with a presentation. Do stay with us.

Simon Harmer has another one here. The ball pitched on the middle stump and hit the off-stump. The on-field umpire did give it out, but Kuldeep reviewed, and there were three reds on the ball tracking. It has been beautiful bowling from Harmer, he has been able to beat the batters in the air through the day. Jadeja was the last one to be dismissed by him in that fashion, and now it is Kuldeep Yadav. Jasprit Bumrah walks into the middle and Bavuma might now consider bringing back an over of pace before the break.

Washington Sundar has fallen here, and it is Aiden Markram who has picked up the wicket. The ball pitched and turned away, and Sunder edged one. Sundar was holding his end up, although he could have rotated the strike more; nevertheless, he was the rock, which has now been removed. We have to see if Gill will come to bat if things get tighter here in Kolkata. Kuldeep is in for now; his role will be quite simple with the skill set he has, which is to support Axar while he figures out what needs to be done.

Well, Simon Harmer has pulled off another wicket here. It was a tossed-up delivery, and Ravindra Jadeja lunged forward and had a slight miscalculation with the flight of the ball. The ball hit his boot first, and once that happened, there was only one result umpire raised his finger, and although it was sent upstairs, there were three reds. India is in trouble now. Axar Patel has walked into the middle. Axar should continue what Jadeja has started in that previous partnership, which is to rotate strike and chip away at that score.

One of the advantages batters have on black soil wickets is that once the ball tends to get older and softer, batting will get a tad bit easier. As there is a low pace on the batters tend to have that extra second to adjust. This is where the likes of Ravindra Jadeja were extremely threatening with the ball because of the natural pace he bowls at. For South Africa, on the other hand, although Maharaj and Harmer are quite wily bowlers, their accuracy tends to miss when they start pushing that pace. It might not be a bad ploy for South Africa to keep having a pacer from one end.

Jadeja, since walking in, did the thing which was required, which was strike rotation. He is in that stage of his career, is where Jadeja just has the know-how of how to deal with the situation on no matter what the scoreboard reads. Once again, as soon as he had walked in, he pushed the ball in the gaps, played a few sweeps and ticked the scoreboard along. Once South Africa starts getting a bit impatient and tends to set different fields and change bowlers, start coming in, Jadeja will be looking to occupy the crease and make this into a match-winning innings to take India home.

Ravindra Jadeja is the new batter who has come in for India. It is another left-hander in the Indian lineup. One thing which has played into the hands of Harmer is the number of left-handers this Indian side has in their team. While this would have countered the threat to Maharaj, this has opened a new challenge against Harmer. India needs to build a partnership here. They have been too stagnated in terms of strike rotation and other things. This might be giving the hosts deja vu of the New Zealand series they had a year back.

The one thing India missed was the trick in their innings, and something which South Africa have managed to do consistently is suffocate India with dot balls. Washington Sundar, if he is eyeing to make the number three is home, he needs to find a way to get to the other end. At the position, he would have batted earlier, blocking and supporting the batter at the other end would have worked, but at this number, he needs to constantly get to the other end and keep the scoreboard ticking, or it will give bowlers enough time to plan the dismissal. As we update, Simon Harmer picks Rishabh Pant.

Well, to make matters worse, Marco Jansen has come into the middle to bowl. While it might be a tricky situation for India but the situation is tailor-made for Rishabh Pant to counterattack here. South Africa has been pulling the strings, and they have been in control and are dominant in this game. Also it is important to remember that we are still unclear whether Shubman Gill will come out to bat or not. From the Indian perspective, they will be hoping it does not go that deep. They need a partnership of 60-70 runs here in India.

In his short career so far, one thing Jurel has shown is his temperament. Be it in the Ranchi Test against England, where he had to help the side get a better situation, and India went on to win the game eventually. Well, well seems like we have jinxed it here. It was a short delivery from Simon Harmer, which the batter pulled straight to the mid-wicket fielder. That is the third wicket down. They are losing wickets too quickly here, the Indians. Rishabh Pant has walked into the middle. This is an important passage in this game.

India did slam a couple of boundaries here post lunch, both coming off the bat of Dhruv Jurel against Corbin Bosch. India will need more of that. They need to find a way to keep getting those boundaries away to release the pressure on themselves. Washington Sundar at the other end needs to pick his moments and play a few attacking shots, as the decline in the number of runs South Africa are defending is the only way pressure can be transferred onto them. As per the fields, Temba Bavuma has been quite attacking.

IND vs SA Test Match-Kolkata

Day 3

Time- 12:00 PM

Spectator Count - 39769

It is Keshav Maharaj and Corbin Bosch who have started the session for South Africa. Marco Jansen has not been on the crease, which is a bit concerning for the Proteas. He has looked the most threatening bowler by far in that morning session. We just had an incident here, Dhruv Jurel tried to drive the ball, and it almost went to the keeper. The players appealed, and it was given out by the on-field umpire, and Jurel immediately went upstairs only to find out there was nothing on the ultraedge.

We have an entralling session coming up in the afternoon here. This very well might be the final session of this Test match. India has to mix caution with aggression to get these runs. They just cannot keep blocking and get into that zone, as there is enough bite in this wicket which can induce eight more wickets hence it is India's challenge to get these runs before South Africa gets those eight wickets.

“Basically, it’s the harder ball game. When the ball is nice and hard, maybe the deviation would be a little quicker. As and when the ball became softer, the deviation lessens and your accuracy comes into play. So, when I bowled the first over, everything happened, the ball swung, it stayed low, it went high. It is very difficult to understand what is the right length so you keep bowling and you keep figuring things out. So that was my reading initially. The first 3-4 balls, everything happened: the ball kicked, one ball went low. Where do you bowl? Then you see this is the way it’s shaping. As and when the ball became softer, it did settle down, the variation was not consistent so then we realized that yes, when the ball is nice and hard, the seam is pronounced, it will do a little more and as and when the ball becomes softer, it’ll become slightly easy,” the 31-year-old seamer said to reporters after the end of day’s play in Kolkata.

South Africa (Playing XI): Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma(c), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj

India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

There is a lunch break. India has not been harmed further. Two down is what they go back with. Marco Jansen has picked up a couple of wickets and has bowled nicely, and so has Simon Harmer. While it is important that India plays safe cricket, it is also important that they keep the runs coming. While Dhruv Jurel does have a few shots in the book, Washington Sundar at times can get stuck at the crease for too long. There needs to be a constant rotation of strike and an odd boundary from time to time to keep this chase smoother. We will be right back after the break do stay with us.

We are five minutes away from lunch break here. South Africa has managed to bowl exceptionally well in the short bursts they have had. India needs to have a proper plan come in the afternoon session on how to go about things.

Lalith Kalidas: This is only the fourth time in history that India have collectively lost their openers for 1 run in a Test innings at home.

Least runs by India openers in a Test innings:

1 v SA, 2025 - Kolkata

1 v NZ, 2010 - Ahmedabad

0 v NZ, 1999 - Mohali

0 v AUS, 1964 - Chennai

IND vs SA Test Match-Kolkata

Day 3

Time- 11:00 AM

Spectator Count - 36562

Another wicket has fallen here. Marco Jansen has put in a hard-length delivery, and the ball took off, and KL Rahul edged, and the ball carried to the keeper. Well, the threat from spinners was anticipated, but the way pacers have operated in this Test match from both sides has been quite superb. Having someone like Kagiso Rabada would have doubled the threat South Africa has. And it is interesting promotion here. Dhruv Jurel has come up with the order. India has to be a bit careful here these chase has already the shades of New Zealand series here.

Well, we could have had more of a less dramatic update, but such was the delivery from Marco Jansen. Yashavi Jaiswal edged one to the keeper, and that is the first wicket down for India in the chase. And this is the last thing they wanted. In the past, India has had its fair share of issues chasing these small totals, and things have not started well here today. Jaiswal is the one batter in top 3 or 4 who will look to take the attack onto the oppsition. From the other end Bavuma has thrown in the ball to Harmar.

Mohammed Siraj gets the final wicket too. It was a lethal yorker from the Hyderbadi, which got rid of Keshav Maharaj. So 123 it is, what India needs to get. Given the nature of the wicket, it is not going to be as straightforward. A spare thought for Temba Bavuma, it has been a superb innings from him, but it did need another 30 runs or so from his end to make this a winnable total for South Africa. It will be interesting to see how India will approach this chase. Will they go attacking to play normal cricket, do stay with us? We will be right back after the break.

Bavuma gets away with one here. Mohammed Siraj's delivery hit the pads of Bavuma, and the umpire gave it out. And once the decision was sent upstairs on ball tracking, the ball was missing the leg stump. And as we update, Mohammed Siraj has picked up the wicket of Simon Harmer here. The ball has come back in sharply with the angle, and Harmer left the ball, and the off-stump got rattled. Well, India did not have to wait much longer here for the wicket to fall. They are just one wicket away and the lead is 123 as we update.

Mohammed Siraj has come into the attack here after the break. This is an interesting change from Pant. Both the bowlers have been operating quite well, bringing in Siraj at this crucial juncture can go either way. While it can yield wickets, it can also yield some easy runs and let Harmer get some breathing space. Having said that Pant has been quite proactive with his bowling changes unlike Shubman Gill who so far in his tenure has been lot more wait and watch with his bowling changes and give longer rope to bowlers even if they are not bowling well.

IND vs SA Test Match-Kolkata

Day 3

Time- 10:00 AM

Spectator Count - 27388

Simon Harmer has walked into the middle. One thing this South African batting does have is an extended batting lineup. As we update, Bavuma has gone past his half-century here. It has been a terrific innings from the South African skipper. He has shown his team how to bat in this innings. Well, given how this pitch is behaving, this very well might end up as a match-winning score. India needs to find a way to keep Bavuma away from the strike as much as possible, as that might put the brake on his rhythm.

Well, there is the wicket, and it is Jasprit Bumrah who eventually got the breakthrough. Once again, the ball did keep a tad bit low, and more than the pitch itself, Corbin Bosch, with his high backlift, was unable to reach Bumrah's hard length delivery. It will be interesting to see if Pant will bring in Ravindra Jadeja from the other end as well, who has been the best bowler for the side in this innings. Although the thing they need to be wary of here is Temba Bavuma, he has got himself a start here.

Corbin Bosch has hit a six, and South Africa's lead has now reached 100 here. India has to be a bit careful now, once South Africa goes past that 120 mark chase will get quite tricky. South Africa themselves have two potential match-winning bowlers in Marco Jansen and Simon Harmer, who have made the most of the conditions in the first innings. Also the challenge for Pant from here on is to maintain that right balance between attack and defence and maintain those in and out fields.

Kuldeep Yadav has come into attack early. The pitch has not been doing as much. Harsha Bhogle, on commentary, reckoned that it might have to do with the heavy roller, and once it wears of, we might see a lot more purchase for the spinners. We have to wait and see, though. Also, Pant might be just missing a bit of trick here, not having a seamer operating from one of the ends here. If there is some moisture in the wicket either Bumrah or Siraj might get me some seam moment early in the piece. And as we update Bumrah comes into the attack.

Temba Bavuma has batted nicely here. He has been rotating the strike nicely and is playing the ball with soft hands, which is the most important skill on black-soil wickets where the pace is a bit on the lower side. But it is important that he continues this innings and converts it into a 70-80 run innings. As of now, this game is at a balance, and one might even say India is slightly ahead because of those 30 runs they have been able to get in the first innings. And what will also be interesting to see is how this wicket will play today; sometimes, black soil wickets do tend to go to bed after the first couple of days.

It is Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja who have started the day for India. Given the nature of how the wicket is playing, although it is not a bad choice of options to start with, it would have been better to have a pacer from one end. We have seen how this wicket has played through with indifferent bounce the If the bowlers keep hitting the stumps constantly, he can induce a few more wickets. As per the batting though, Temba Bavuma and Corbin Bosch have to be a bit proactive, they just cannot keep blocking everything as one ball with their name will come on it.

It is probably going to be the final day of the Test match. The crowd is buzzing here at Eden Gardens, and we might expect more coming through the day as we progress. India will be hoping to roll out South Africa quickly; meanwhile, Bavuma and Bosch would be hoping to extend this lead as possible.

“Basically, it’s the harder ball game. When the ball is nice and hard, maybe the deviation would be a little quicker. As and when the ball became softer, the deviation lessens and your accuracy comes into play. So, when I bowled the first over, everything happened, the ball swung, it stayed low, it went high. It is very difficult to understand what is the right length so you keep bowling and you keep figuring things out. So that was my reading initially. The first 3-4 balls, everything happened: the ball kicked, one ball went low. Where do you bowl? Then you see this is the way it’s shaping. As and when the ball became softer, it did settle down, the variation was not consistent so then we realized that yes, when the ball is nice and hard, the seam is pronounced, it will do a little more and as and when the ball becomes softer, it’ll become slightly easy,” the 31-year-old seamer said to reporters after the end of day’s play in Kolkata.

“It’s all heart; the guy doesn’t stop. You know, he just carries on going,” Steyn said. “And whenever his captain throws him the ball, he seems to deliver, and he just runs in nonstop. Bowl these long spells. You know, up to 8 overs, 9-over spells. I’ve seen him do it before. And he seems to deliver every time. And depending on the conditions, he’s able to adapt. In the UK, he was swinging the ball beautifully. And he waited for his turn. I mean, he played in all those Test matches and bowled beautifully, and the wickets came for him in the last Test match. A lot of bowlers can become quite despondent, you know. If things are not going your way, you start searching, but he waited and it came good for him in that game. And the same thing happened in this game. He bowled from the far end, where it wasn’t a lot of up and down movement. It wasn’t going his way. He came back and bowled from this side here, got a little bit of reverse swing, picked up two wickets. So his heart is what stands up for me a lot of the time.

“He gets that ball to go nice and skiddy, it almost goes underneath the bats. Even when he’s hitting a real hard length, it’s not going over the stumps. And yet when it’s hitting the stumps you think that batters can play a nice drive and get some runs going, but not the case, because he also hits you with pace, 145-140 kilometres an hour. It’s really quick.”

“Steyn is absolutely right in terms of understanding what lines to bowl and what lengths to bowl on a wicket like this… the sooner you understand that, the easier it is for a bowler,” the legendary legspinner added. “And Bumrah, I’m sure, in that first spell, realised that this is not a wicket where you will get swing, there wasn’t much of that. We expected the ball to swing a lot more early in the day, but that didn’t happen. So he realised that, look, you need to hit the deck and then keep varying the lengths and that’s exactly what he did. He never gave a single opportunity for the batter to go against what Jasprit does, and it was very difficult for the batter to think that they can get a boundary, easy boundary or easy runs, and that’s something that he did; control the game and controlled the pace of the batter as well. And when you do that, when you put that doubt in the batter’s mind, it’s very difficult to go past that with Bumrah.”

“He was, the blueprint for the day of how bowlers should bowl, not just based on the wickets that he took. Obviously, he was a standout in terms of taking his five-for, but if you watch the areas that he bowled and how he bowled, that’s how, I think the South Africans should start to look at bowling themselves. He hit the deck real hard, didn’t bowl many half volleys, or any soft deliveries. He targeted the stumps well, gave away very little, the runs that were scored off him, almost down at third man. So that’s kind of like the blueprint that I think that as a fast bowler, if you want a bowl, you want to be successful on this particular deck, you have to follow that. And if you do that, I mean, you’ll get the rewards similar to the way that he got his five-for.”

“In 2015 when I was dropped from the national side, that was when I realized I wasn’t good enough. I came back to India in 2016 to work with Umesh Patwal in Mumbai and I think I have discovered a lot about spin bowling that I didn’t know and that was probably the point of my career that gave me an ambition to get better and develop and become a decent spinner

“2015, I was quite new to Test cricket and Ravi Ashwin was bowling like a jet and I think he took close to 40 wickets in that series. The expectation that I needed to do the same and dealing with that and putting myself in even more pressure. Now, I think I am a lot more confident in my ability. And I don’t have as many doubts that I had back then. I was fighting for a place in the team whereas now I feel like I have the skillset to compete. Whether or not it goes my way is sometimes the luck of the draw but as long as I can go back and say I put balls in the right areas, I can be happy with that. I am obviously a lot more experienced since the last time I was here,” the 36-year-old said.

“The reason I wasn’t involved with international cricket, one because I wasn’t good enough at that time and I didn’t force the selectors to select me and I signed the Kolpak deal which means I couldn’t play for South Africa anymore. I have always had a desire to compete at the highest stage and level which is international cricket. And I have always wanted to come back to India after the experience in 2015. I think as a finger spinner, you need to add strings to your bowling and the character that I am, I am always trying to push myself and be better. So, I think I am my fiercest competitor and my harshest critic,” he said to reporters after the end of the second day’s play in Kolkata.

“Yeah, I think we first need to determine how he got the neck stiffness, maybe just a bad night’s sleep. I don’t think it’s, or we can put it down to the load,” Morkel said, when asked if Gill’s packed multi-format calendar was a factor. “He is a very fit guy; he looks after himself very well. So, it’s just unfortunate this morning that he woke up with a stiff neck and that carried in into the day. Bad timing.”

“Shubman Gill has a neck spasm and is being monitored by the BCCI medical team. A decision on his participation today will be taken as per his progress,” the BCCI said in an update during the day but it’s not clear if he will be able to take further part in this match

South Africa (Playing XI): Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma(c), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj

India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Hello and welcome to our live blog of the first Test between India and South Africa. We might as well see the result of the game today itself. If South Africa does manage to have a good partnership up at the top of the order and extend their lead to 125 runs, India will be in a bit of a pickle in the chase.