India go into the first Test against South Africa knowing exactly where the real contest will take place. For all the talk of a young side growing in confidence, the memory of last year’s collapse against the New Zealand spinners still lingers. Three Tests, 36 wickets shared by Ajaz Patel, Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips and a 0-3 defeat at home. That streak of bruising remains in the background as India prepare to face a South African side that has now adopted spin as its primary weapon.
South Africa will then arrive in Kolkata with a well-deserved sense of belief 1-1 draw in Pakistanachieved without captain Temba Bavum. Their spinners, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer and Senuran Muthusamy, claimed 35 of the 39 wickets in the series, comfortably outplaying Pakistan’s own slow bowlers. It marks a clear shift in identity that the Indian support staff takes seriously.
“They have four spinners available and will most likely play three. It’s a bit like playing against a team from the subcontinent,” assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said. “We dealt with it early. Hopefully we’ve learned from the New Zealand series.”
The biggest reminder of what South Africa can do in these conditions comes in the form of Simon Harmer. He toured India for the first time in 2015 and as a relatively inexperienced off-spinner at the time, he dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha. A decade later, Harmer returns with more than 1,000 first-class wickets and fresh from an eight-wicket haul in Rawalpindi that pulled South Africa level in the Pakistan series.
Maharaj remains the heart of the attack, combining accuracy with the ability to create pressure for long spells. Muthuswamy adds stability at the other end. For a side historically associated with fast bowling, this is a very different South Africa – one that understands how to build a match on slow surfaces.
This is why the Eden Gardens pitch has attracted so much attention. Sourav Ganguly, now CAB president, repeatedly checked him and insisted that he “will not overturn the order”. Captain Shubman Gill and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak also took a close look, aware that the conditions here tend to offer something for everyone.
Eden’s numbers support this view. Over the past 15 years, pace bowlers have taken 61 per cent of wickets in Tests at this venue, largely due to early seam movement and late backswing. This statistic will encourage Jasprit Bumrah, who has often shaped Kolkata’s matches with both the new ball and the old ball. India are likely to go with two fast bowlers and Akash Deep, the local seamer, seems to have got ahead due to his understanding of the surface.
Gill’s side have shown resilience abroad, most recently in England, where they drew the Test series 2-2 under his debut captaincy – but the concerns raised by the New Zealand home side were never fully addressed. A 2-0 win over a depleted West Indies side earlier in this WTC cycle did not provide a clear measure of progress.
Against South Africa, India’s challenge is straightforward: stay composed against sustained spin, especially in the pressure phases. With Rishabh Pant sitting again and Dhruv Jurel likely to play as a batting specialist, the middle order carries more weight. Washington Sundar, who took 16 wickets in the New Zealand series, offers an all-round balance alongside Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
