Bavuma, Harmer star in South Africa's historic Eden Gardens win

A fighting unbeaten half-century from skipper Temba Bavuma and a second four-fer in the match from Simon Harmer saw South Africa beat India in the opening Test in Kolkata. Despite being on the backfoot by stumps on the second day, the world champions came up with a spirited performance on the third day to secure a 30-run win and take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Resuming at 93/7, South Africa pinned their hopes on Bavuma to drag their lead to at least a three-figure score which looked like a herculean task given the nature of the surface. But with Corbin Bosch for company, Bavuma managed to keep South Africa afloat. Bosch then connected a slog sweep to smash Kuldeep Yadav over the ropes that took the lead past 100 to slowly drift the pressure back on India. However, Jasprit Bumrah ended the frustrating stand with a nip-backer that crashed into the stumps. Bavuma then became the first batter to score a half-century in the Test match before Mohammed Siraj wrapped up the South African resistance with the final two wickets in the same over that left the opposition skipper stranded at the non-striker's end.

A target of 124 on the Eden Gardens surface was always going to be tricky for India without Shubman Gill, who was earlier in the day officially ruled out of the Test match. And to make matters worse, the hosts lost Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first over of the run chase as the opener edged one to the 'keeper. While the spinners were expected to wreak havoc, it was Marco Jansen who stunned India again in his next over with a snorter that got rid of KL Rahul, the only Indian batter who faced over 100 deliveries in the first innings.

At 1/2, India sent Dhruv Jurel to steady the ship alongside Washington Sundar. But once Harmer and Keshav Maharaj started to bowl in tandem, India had their task cut out. Jurel was left frustrated as his shot selection let him down rather than the surface as he pulled a rank long hop straight to the deep mid wicket fielder. When Rishabh Pant chipped one in tame fashion back to Harmer, India found themselves in deep trouble at 38/4, effectively 38/5 with Gill being unavailable.

Jadeja then hit a couple of boundaries to break the rut and Washington was defiant at the other end. Washington's resistance did give India hope given no one had faced more deliveries than him at one point but Harmer was at it again, this time with the key wicket of Jadeja to put India on the backfoot further. The final nail in the coffin came when Aiden Markram managed to find Washington's outside edge. At that point, India still needed 52 runs with only Axar Patel left to bat with the tail. Axar did throw his bat against Maharaj for a couple of sixes and a four after Kuldeep's dismissal but one more attempt at clearing the ropes saw him mistime one and head back to the pavilion. Maharaj then needed just one more delivery to complete South Africa's stunning turnaround.

Brief scores: South Africa 159 (Aiden Markram 31; Jasprit Bumrah 5/27) & 153 (Temba Bavuma 55*; Ravindra Jadeja 4/50) beat India 189 (KL Rahul 39; Simon Harmer 4/30) & 93 (Washington Sundar 31; Simon Harmer 4/21) by 30 runs