Watch out, SA!

Having had his fair share of success in the Rainbow Nation with 30 wickets in seven Tests, it is to Jasprit Bumrah that India will turn for a series-levelling win in Cape Town, where the final Test starts tomorrow

As he walked into the Newlands outfield on Monday morning in preparation for the second Test starting on Wednesday, it is impossible that Jasprit Bumrah did not reset the mental clock and think back six years in time, when he won his maiden Test cap.

For nearly two years till then, Bumrah had been pigeonholed as a white-ball specialist, plying his wares in ODI and T20 cricket, but captain Virat Kohli, head coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun had always pegged him as a match-winner in Tests too. It was just a question of when and where to blood him in the five-day format.

The opportunity arose in the first week of 2018, in the first of three Tests against South Africa in Cape Town. Bumrah had a mixed debut—he went for 73 in his 19 first-innings overs for the scalp of AB de Villiers, before bouncing back with three for 39 in the second, his victims de Villiers again, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock.

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14 wickets in SA in 2018

Bumrah finished that series with 14 wickets. It was the start of a compelling Test career that has netted him 132 wickets in 31 matches, average a ridiculous 21.84, strike-rate a wicket every eight overs.

Having had his fair share of success in South Africa – 30 wickets in seven Tests, two fifers—it is to Bumrah that India will turn for a series-levelling win in Cape Town. At SuperSport Park in Centurion, in his first Test since July 2022, Bumrah showed no signs of potential rust, hitting the crease hard, generating significant bounce and seam and hustling the batsmen with his intent and pedigree. He could have had marathon centurion Dean Elgar at least a half-dozen times in his six-over first spell, but had to wait until his 54th ball of the game when he had the exciting Tony de Zorzi caught behind.

At his visceral best in 2022

Three deliveries later, he got rid of Keegan Petersen, who had tamed India on their last tour two years back, on his way to four for 69 from 26.4 overs. It was Bumrah at his visceral best, sometimes smiling in resignation on beating the bat, at other times throwing his hands wide in frustration at going unrewarded.

Unfortunately for him, he operated largely without support. In Mohammed Shami’s absence, Mohammed Siraj did create opportunities and pressure, especially with the first new ball, but after that, he was culpable of not being consistent enough to keep asking the right questions. Debutant Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur unravelled in a series of boundaries and Bumrah, even Bumrah, found it hard to plough a lone furrow.

“We all know his (Bumrah’s) quality,” skipper Rohit Sharma acknowledged after the loss. “All he wanted was a bit of support, which he didn’t get; that happens.” For India to reverse the Centurion debacle, that must not happen again, because even Bumrah can only do so much on his own.

2007
The year in which the Rahul Dravid-led Team India lost the Cape Town Test to lose the series 1-2 to Graeme Smith’s South Africans

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