Dusk descended swiftly on Eden Gardens. The light was so poor, irredeemable even for the floodlights, that the umpires rolled down the shutters of an all-action day shortly after the completion of the day’s 75th over. Soon after, the groundsmen in fluorescent green bibs rushed and draped the 22 yards of prime real estate at the heart of the action with white tarpaulin.
Both teams, by then, had boarded the bus to the hotel, wondering and reflecting about the space that would cast the longest shadow on the game. India would feel guardedly satisfied after bundling up South Africa for 159; the visitors would rue the toss advantage they squandered but would not feel utterly lost, for there is sufficient life on the surface yet to script a turnaround.
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At one stage, they were better placed than India were at stumps, 37 for 1. How they unravelled after putting 57 wicketless runs on the board could haunt their nights, but it could fill them with the belief that they could mete out the same fate to the Indians on the second day. Belief was the buzzword South Africa’s batting coach Ashwell Prince emphasised; patience was the magic potion India should immerse themselves in, stressed Jasprit Bumrah. The theme of the second day could be the bout between belief and patience.
Both teams threw glimpses of those virtues in the 20 overs India batted. Marco Jansen detonated the stumps of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who often keeps long dates with his first encounters of a Test series. Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer kept reminding KL Rahul and Washington Sundar that an unplayable ball is always lurking in the shadows. In the 19th over, Harmer produced a ripper that hissed past Washington’s lunging bat as well as the stumps. Four overs ago, Maharaj spat one across Rahul’s blade. Narrow was the gap between the bat and ball; narrower was the space between the ball and the off-stump. Rahul gasped in relief; Maharaj covered his face in disbelief. Until the moment, the resolute Rahul was batting without ado. But one ball of mischief is all it takes on the surface with sufficient pace, variable bounce, and sharp turn.
India’s Kuldeep Yadav congratulates Jasprit Bumrah after the pacer took a South African wicket on Day 1 of the Kolkata Test at Eden Gardens. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)
Warns Prince: “Quite often, you expect batters to get to 20, 30, and grow in confidence. But here, I don’t believe that any of the batters grew in confidence because of the inconsistency of the bounce. What can happen is that you don’t trust the surface as much as you should after spending an hour at the crease.”
Echoing his assessment, four of South Africa’s batsmen crossed 20, but none kicked on to make a defining score. He throws in the example of Aiden Markram. “I think Aiden Markram probably played the best 23 deliveries I’ve ever seen him play, just in terms of his positions, his movement. Then his next 20 balls, I think he scores 30-odd runs. And then he looks really comfortable. And then he’s bounced off the length, there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.”
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The signs of batting being an ordeal surfaced as early as the second ball, when the length ball from Jasprit Bumrah flew shin high past Rishabh Pant for four byes. The next ball hit the sticker on Markram’s bat. The deviations and bounce were so wicked that Bumrah took time to grasp the nature of the wicket. “I had to be patient, because the hard ball was doing a lot and it took me time to figure out the best lengths on the wicket. On such a wicket, you have to be patient, because not every ball would move,” he observed.
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Patience is key to surviving the Eden beast. But it could also favour daredevilry. Like the destruction Rishabh Pant could unleash. Prince could almost visualise it. “I am sure when it’s Rishabh Pant’s turn to bat, we’ll see some exciting strokes,” he said. A quick half-century or two could define the game and put it beyond South Africa, who have already made hazy assumptions of a defendable fourth-innings total. “I think 150 would be a difficult score to chase,” Prince noted. The fourth innings is still distant, as black-soil surfaces are prone to slowing down as the game progresses and making batting relatively comfortable.
The biggest determinant would be the cool weather, which doesn’t let the surface deteriorate as rapidly as when it is baked in sunshine. In this context, the pitch on the second day could show similar traits as it did on the first. The accumulated overnight moisture could quicken up the surface in the first hour, too.
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The threats would not only be Maharaj and Harmer but the 2.6-metre-tall Marco Jansen too. He could exaggerate the inconsistent bounce more than any other bowler. South Africa would curse the ill-timed injury of their seam-bowling talisman, Kagiso Rabada. But there is life yet in the game, and liveliness on the surface for South Africa to exploit.
