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Eden Gardens Test: Record-breaking Jasprit Bumrah follows Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma; India bowl South Africa out for 159

After a solid opening partnership, South Africa's innings imploded dramatically with Jasprit Bumrah picking up a five-wicket haul

By The Week News Desk Updated: November 14, 2025 15:10 IST
Jasprit Bumrah acknowledges the Eden Gardens crowd after his five-wicket haul against South Africa | Salil Bera

Jasprit Bumrah (5-27) recorded his 16th five-wicket haul in Test cricket as India bowled South Africa out for a paltry total of 159 on the opening day of the first Test in Kolkata on Friday (November 14). Opting to bat, the Proteas had a brisk half-century opening stand between Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton but once they were separated, the innings fell off the cliff in dramatic fashion.

The first hour of play was the only period South Africa dominated as Rickelton and Markram got off the blocks in a jiffy. Bumrah, though, was at his best from the get-go and was literally unplayable in his spell. Fittingly, it was the pace ace who broke the opening stand with a peach of a delivery to castle Rickelton.

Markram also fell soon after and the South African innings got into a deep mess thereafter. The Eden Gardens surface did have some help in for the spinners and India's tweakers got into the act gradually. Kuldeep Yadav (2-36) picked up the big wickets of Temba Bavuma and Wiaan Mulder with the latter falling after a defensive vigil at the crease.

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Wickets kept falling at regular intervals and Bumrah returned at the death to mop up the tail, thereby completing yet another fifer in the longest format and his second on Indian soil. Here are the major records set by Bumrah over the course of his five-wicket haul at the Eden Gardens.

  • Bumrah becomes the first Indian bowler to get a five-wicket haul on the first day of a red-ball Test in India

 

  • Bumrah is the second Indian bowler to get a five-wicket haul on the first day of a Test in India after Ishant Sharma who did it in 2019 against Bangladesh at this same venue but that was a pink-ball Test

 

  • After 17 years, a fast bowler has picked up a five-wicket haul on the opening day of a red-ball Test in India with Dale Steyn in 2008 being the previous record-holder

 

  • Bumrah equals legendary leg spinner Bhagavat Chandrashekhar at fifth spot for most five-wicket hauls by Indians in Test cricket

 

  • The total of 159 is South Africa's lowest while batting first in a Test on Indian soil

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