India’s seamers enjoyed a dominant opening day at Eden Gardens, and Mohammed Siraj said the surface made run-scoring difficult after South Africa were dismissed for 159 in the first Test on Friday. Jasprit Bumrah led the charge with a decisive five-wicket haul, while Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav chipped in with two each to break South Africa’s early momentum.
Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton had given the visitors a steady start, but the innings fell away quickly once the new-ball movement eased and the pitch began to behave unpredictably. Siraj said the conditions demanded discipline, especially once the shine came off. “The new ball was coming on nicely to the bat, but when the ball went soft, the bounce became low as well,” Siraj said after stumps. He added that the plan was to stay full and attack the stumps because the pitch kept offering something to bowlers willing to aim straight. “There has been some reverse swing on offer, if you bowl stump-to-stump, you’ll get options to take wickets and it isn’t easy for batters to score runs,” he said. He also pointed out the contrast between the two ends. “One end is fine to bat, the other end – the bounce is variable and it’s tough to score,” Siraj said, summing up the challenges the bowlers exploited through the day. The right-arm quick explained that Bumrah’s inputs helped him fine-tune his approach during a key phase of the innings. “Jassi bhai just told me that the wicket-taking option was if you bowl at the stumps, you’ve LBW, bowled and even catches coming to play when the line is accurate,” he said, crediting the senior pacer’s guidance during the spell. South Africa’s innings, which began with promise, unravelled rapidly after the first hour. A collapse of ten wickets for 102 runs left India in control before their own batters faced the fading light. India closed on 37/1, with KL Rahul and Washington Sundar ensuring there was no late damage after Yashasvi Jaiswal fell to Marco Jansen.
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Siraj said the team was satisfied with its position at stumps. “We are in a good position having lost just one wicket. (Earlier) Markram and Rickelton put on a good stand, we did well to comeback and I think we’re ahead in the match at the moment,” he said. The hosts trail by 122 runs heading into day two, with the pitch expected to keep testing both sides.
