After Virat Kohli won the toss in Nagpur and elected to bat, what transpired was not something the South African off-spinner, Simon Harmer, is quite used to. He was summoned by his captain as early as in the ninth over of the Test match, and bowled the maximum number of overs (27.2) in the Indian innings.
Coming from the land of fast bowlers and seaming wickets, Harmer is not accustomed to having the new ball thrown at him so early in a Test. And he is certainly not used to getting prodigious turn from the wicket straight away. It took him time to adapt to the scenario, but once he did, he proved to be a handful for the Indian batsmen. As India got bundled out for 215 on the first day, Harmer finished with figures of 4 for 78. For Harmer the key to bowling on the turning Nagpur pitch was ascertaining the right pace at which he could spin the ball.
“I found it tough to adjust to the correct pace, I think I was a little slow at the beginning of my spell,” Harmer said. “I wouldn’t say I was struggling to adjust to line or lengths but I think pace on this wicket was vital, so I was trying to find my feet at the beginning of my spell.”
“You can’t bowl one pace the whole time. With the quicker pace, there was a bit more bite off the wicket, a few balls spit, and as a spinner that is what you are looking for. When you bowl too slowly, a batter can adjust and go back easily. Ideally, you want a batsman to commit to a shot, and I felt the best way to do that was bowl a quicker pace,” he explained.
Another important factor that Harmer kept in mind was not get carried away by the assistance on offer from the pitch, and stick to the game plan.
“The seamers are going to get the ball to reverse, and the wickets are going to turn. The spinners need to come into the game. The biggest thing is not trying too hard. I think here were stages today where I did, and that’s where I started to leak runs. It’s about finding a rhythm, a line and length that works, and a pace, keeping the batsmen thinking the whole time with field placings, your speed, mixing it up. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Despite dismissing India for a modest total, the Proteas are not in safe waters. At the end of the first day, they were 11 for 2 with a deficit of 207 runs. Harmer admitted it will be a challenge for the South African batsmen to face the Indian spinners on this wicket but was also optimistic about their chances in the Test match.
“Mohali was much of the same. At the end of the day, there are still three innings left and it will be the same for both teams throughout the Test match,” he said. “So it is challenging conditions, but that is what playing on the subcontinent is all about.”
