Pant, trying to break the shackles, fell to a return catch after Harmer cleverly varied his pace and angle. Jurel, attempting to counter-attack, skied a long hop to Bosch at deep square leg.
Washington Sundar, who looked the most assured among the top order, was undone when Aiden Markram was brought on for a part-time off-spin spell that immediately produced a catch at slip.
A brief counter-attack from Axar Patel offered a sliver of hope. Axar struck 16 runs off four balls, taking on Keshav Maharaj with aggressive intent, before miscuing a slog sweep to mid-on where Bavuma held a difficult catch while running back.
Maharaj then cleaned up the tail, and the match ended when Mohammed Siraj edged his first ball to Aiden Markram at slip. With Gill unavailable, India’s ninth wicket down signalled the end of the innings.
South Africa erupted in celebration as the result not only gave them a 1-0 lead in the two-match series but also extended Bavuma’s remarkable run as captain, 10 wins in 11 Tests since the start of their World Test Championship (WTC) 2023–25 campaign, during which they ended their ICC title drought. Bavuma also took a well-judged catch earlier to dismiss a dangerous-looking Axar Patel.
At the presentation, Pant acknowledged the team’s shortcomings, saying, “You can’t dwell too much on defeats like this. We should’ve chased down a total of 120-odd, but the pressure kept building because we lost wickets.”
Gautam Gambhir, attending the post-match press conference alone, defended the surface, stating, “This is exactly the pitch we wanted. The pitch curator was very helpful. This wasn’t an unplayable wicket. The skills of the players aren’t the issue. We need to, individually and collectively, keep talking about how to absorb pressure. We need to embrace pressure.” The loss marked India’s fourth home defeat under Gambhir’s tenure as head coach.
Earlier in the morning session, South Africa added 60 crucial runs to their overnight score, resisting India’s spinners who lacked the penetration they had displayed on Saturday evening.
Bavuma was beaten or edged frequently but survived through soft hands and calculated rotation of strike. Bosch played more freely, even slog-sweeping Kuldeep Yadav for six.
India turned to their pacers for a breakthrough, with Jasprit Bumrah finally ending Bosch’s innings by knocking back his off stump. Siraj followed up by dismissing Harmer and Maharaj in quick succession, the latter trapped in front with a yorker.
Despite hopes among the Eden Gardens crowd for a home victory, India’s batting deficiencies were exposed as they slid to a chastening defeat in a match that finished inside eight sessions.
Brief scores:
South Africa 159 & 153 beat India 189 & 93 by 30 runs.
At lunch on Day 3: India 10/2 in 7 overs (Washington Sundar 5 not out; Marco Jansen 2/8), needing 114 more to win.