Huge Concern for South Africa as Their Star Bowler Lands in Kolkata Hospital

South Africa could be in huge trouble for the second Test against India in Guwahati. Their star bowler, who played a major role in the win, was taken to the Kolkata hospital a few hours ago. This now raises concern on his participation in the second Test.

The drama around the Test series between South Africa and India does not come to an end. South Africa started off with the series by winning the first game, restricting India to 93 runs in a small chase. While the second Test match is scheduled to take place on 22 November, both teams are still

Amidst this, there is a matter of concern for the South African team. One of their bowlers was taken to the Kolkata hospital for some scans. This now raises concern whether they will be able to participate for the team in the second Test match, or will the team bring a replacement for them.

1. Simon Harmer Suffers Injury

It has been reported that Simon Harmer has suffered an injury ahead of the second Test. The reports claim that Harmer has injured his right shoulder, but the seriousness of his injury has not been revealed till now. He was also taken to the Kolkata hospital, for the scans to take place and also for the team on his participation.

As of now, it is too early to determine whether he will be playing for the team in the second Test against India or not. For those who don't know, Simon Harmer suffered this injury in the first Test match. It happened while he was fielding for the team, and in an attempt to stop the boundary, he ended up getting his shoulders hurt.

2. Harmer’s Dominance

Simon Harmer was able to dominate against India in the first Test. South Africa played with just two spinners in this game, and Harmer ensured to use the most of the pitch conditions. The Indian team had made the pitch in such a way which could benefit the spinners to a great extent. And this was also delivered to them, which in turn

He ended up taking 8 wickets in the entire game and conceded just 51 runs off both innings combined. Taking a look at his deliveries, it seemed that the Indian batsmen had no answers to the same. With his impressive four-wicket haul in both innings of the game, Harmer was also the Player of the Match.

In the first innings, he was able to take the wickets of Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel. Later in the final innings also, he played a vital role to take the wickets. Harmer dismissed Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav. Other bowlers were able to pick up the remaining scalps and help South Africa to win the game.

3. India Summons Players for Practice

The Indian team had also returned to the Eden Gardens for practice ahead of the second Test. The Head Coach, Gautam Gambhir, talked about the lessons which the team had to learn from this loss. Since it was a loss due to the batters, the main focus was put down on the and its practices against the spin bowlers.

For this, the Indian team decided to call up a Ranji talent. They called Bengal's player Kaushik Maity, and he became the nets bowler for the Indian team for the day. He also received instructions from the coaching staff on how he should ball to the batsmen and help them understand how the tracks work on this pitch. Meity bowled to Sai Sudharsan, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Devdutt Padikkal, and left-arm spin to Dhruv Jurel.

Kaushik was not the only player who was called up by the Indian team ahead of the second Test. In the practice sessions, the team also decided to summon Nitish Kumar Reddy. He was a part of the lineup for the first Test but just hours before the game.

Instead, Nitish Kumar Reddy spent his time playing for India A in the unofficial ODIs against South Africa A. The last ODI match of the series is set to be played today, and Nitish was also supposed to be a part of the same. Since he has now joined the Indian team, fans won't be able to see him in the final unofficial ODI.