Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah angered spinner Kuldeep Yadav with poor fielding in Guwahati. Poor fielding prevented India from stifling the opposition.
India lost the opening Test of this series against South Africa last Sunday at the Eden Gardens. They suffered a humiliating defeat to the reigning WTC champions, despite a spin-friendly track.
Jasprit Bumrah flees with poor fielding, Kuldeep looks frustrated
Indian speedster Jasprit Bumrah bowled a stunning spell as always and challenged them with accurate bowling. He threatened the outside edge of the batters during his 6 over spell.
Your daily dose of cricket!
However, after the South African openers scored crucial runs without losing a single wicket, Kuldeep Yadav was called upon to break the partnership between Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton.
Yadav turned and deceived the batters, but a full delivery to Rickelton was sent towards the fence when Bumrah refused to dive in order to save the boundary in the middle region. This happened on the first ball of the 23rd over.
– Drizzyat12Kennyat8 (@45kennyat7PM) November 22, 2025
Jasprit Bumrah cleans Aiden Markram at lunch
After his poor defensive effort in the 23rd over, Jasprit Bumrah was called back for an over just before lunch. South Africa thrived in the morning session with a score of 84 points between the top two.
Although the Guwahati track cannot be considered a bad pitch for batters like the Eden Gardens track, it is not a batting friendly pitch either. It offers help to batters, especially spinners, but does justice to batters who have kept their nerves steady.
Bumrah returned with his 7th over of the match and cleaned up Aiden Markram with a ball that was driven off the inside edge of the Protea batter. First blood for the Indians.
Rickelton, on the other hand, was dismissed just after lunch as South Africa suffered back-to-back blows. Kuldeep Yadav bowled a delivery to get rid of Rickelton as the sharply turning ball stayed low and took the outside edge of Rickelton’s bat.
Rishabh Pant took a low catch that looked very well judged to get rid of Protea’s second opener. This brings captain Temba Bavuma to the crease.
Rishabh Pant continued Shubman Gill’s losing streak
After Shubman Gill was ruled out due to injury, Indian vice-captain Rishabh Pant took over as Indian captain. However, he continued his line of losing throws in this Test as well.
Shubman Gill was ruled out following a neck spasm and was replaced by Nitish Kumar Reddy in the team ahead of the second match. Sai Sudharsan has made a return to the Indian XI while Washington Sundae returns to his old role in the lower order.
Reddy is likely to feature in Axar Patel’s role, although he would surely be less adept with the ball. This change was made due to the excess of left-handers in the playing XI.
ALSO READ: Rohit Sharma reappointed as Indian captain
