Bavuma’s Vengeance: South Africa Humble India at Eden Gardens

Bavuma took his vengeance in the most humiliating way. Eden Garden proved a haunting house for the Indian cricket team. India’s Test captain was ruled out of the Eden Garden Test match second inning.

The third day proved decisive for the first Test match between India and South Africa. The Test match had already received attention due to the comments of Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah, where the pacer had a conversation with Rishabh Pant about African captain Temba Bavuma’s height. The South African captain responded to those comments in the second inning.

Bavuma scored a match-winning 53 not out despite the African side scoring only 153 in the second inning. The Indian team got a target of 124 runs to win while it was just the third day of the match. Before that, South Africa scored 159 in the first inning, and in response Team India scored 189. They got a lead of 30 runs, but they lost something.

It was Indian Test captain Shubman Gill who was ruled out of the Test match after facing a knee injury. Shubman was not available for Team India for the rest of the Kolkata Test. At the beginning of the second inning, the India team felt things were under control, as the South African side felt like a wall of sand against the Indian bowling lineup. In 54 overs, the Test world champions were bowled out at 153.

Team India had a low total of 124 on nine wickets, while Shubman was absent hurt and would not be able to bat. For once, it felt like a low total, but the pitch condition was pretty clear for a hard chase-down. It was proved right when in just 13 balls India lost two major wickets, where Marco Jansen got Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul.

Washington Sundar proved the only force, scoring 31 runs while the other end failed to give a stand. No batsman was able to stand a chance against the world champions. At the end, Axar Patel showed some intentions but until then India had almost lost 7 wickets. With Axar’s wicket, Keshav Maharaj ended Indian batting on just 93.

South Africa claimed the first Test match with 30 runs despite having a low total on the board. Somehow, it proved to be vengeance from Bavuma, where rather than responding with words, he and his team struck with the game.

Now Team India is focusing on the second Test match scheduled in Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati, India, from 22–26 November 2025. A hard-fought match awaits ahead if the home team needs to survive in the series.