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A decade after India exposed his flaws, Simon Harmer used the teachings he learned in Mumbai to tear through India in Kolkata, completing a shocking full-circle spin revival.
South Africa’s Simon Harmer celebrates the dismissal of India’s Ravindra Jadeja on the second day of the primary cricket test match between India and South Africa in Kolkata, India, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
The reply to why spin is the leading consider India Tests was in front of everyone when India resumed their innings at 37/1 on second day of the Kolkata Test. What began as a boring Saturday, with on-field officials yawning within the morning, suddenly switched right into a spin warfare because the tweakers from either side collectively led to 13 dismissals, out of 15 wickets fell on the second day.
Simon Harmer, South Africa’s one in every of the oldest weapons in the present artillery, unlocked the demons within the juice-loaded pitch within the morning session after KL Rahul accomplished 4000 Test runs. The 36-year-old succeeded in extracting turn – as high as 10.1 degrees – within the 14th over of the day, bamboozling Washington Sundar and breaking a 57-run stand.
That was just the start of Harmer’s demolition act. After Sundar, the South African tweaker hunted down 2 more left-handers, in Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, together with Dhruv Jurel to finish a 4-wicket haul in the primary innings.
Fresh from assaulting Pakistan of their home, Harmer continued his excellence in subcontinent conditions to stun the Asian giants. India, after losing Gill, went rogue but only till Rishabh Pant was in the center. Harmer had his own traits to bottle up India’s aggression, pitching 94% of his deliveries between good length to full. He beat Jurel with a flighted delivery, trapped Jadeja in front with an arm ball and ended Axar’s resistance extra bounce on this offbreak.
India were bowled out for 189, scraping out a slender 30-run lead. At the guts of the demolition was Simon Harmer, returning 4 for 30.
Harmar is playing only his second Test tour of India, with the 2 visits separated by nearly a decade. He was a rookie when he first got here to India within the tour of 2015. Yet, he managed 10 wickets in 2 matches, averaging 24.50. Nonetheless, South Africa lost the series and he was amongst those that faced the repercussions. After getting dropped from the national side, it took him seven years to regain his spot.
“I used to be quite recent to Test cricket. Ravi Ashwin was bowling like a jet and it was the expectation that I needed to do the identical, so I used to be coping with that and putting myself under much more pressure,” Harmer said after the second day’s play.
“After I got dropped from the national side in 2015 was once I realised that I wasn’t ok,” he said.
The failure didn’t take him away from the sport. Harmer returned to India in 2016 to work with coach Umesh Patwal in Mumbai, uncovering technical insights into spin, which, he believes, became the turning point of his profession.
“That was probably the purpose of my profession that gave me the ammunition to recover and develop and change into an honest spinner,” he added.
In 2017, he signed a Kolpak deal and launched into a nine-season spell with Essex, where his game soared. Remarkably consistent, he has never finished outside the highest ten wicket-takers within the County Championship, even topping the charts in 2019, 2020 and 2022.
“Within the UK, bowling on flat wickets or when there are footmarks and nothing outside of those footmarks, it’s essential to discover a strategy to get the ball to spin quickly,” he explained.
“It’s a skill that I’ve developed there by with the ability to bowl it slightly bit flatter, not at all times just counting on the loop. Sometimes on slow wickets, it’s too slow and batters can play off the back foot. So, it’s about understanding my game more and finding ways to be higher.”
Because the Kolpak system ended post-Brexit, Harmer became available for South Africa again. Harmer accepts that his opportunities will come only when extra spin options are needed, as Keshav Maharaj being the primary alternative. He continues to attract on the vast experience and skill he has sharpened through years of excellence on the county circuit.
“I’ve at all times wanted to come back back to India after the experience in 2015. At Essex, the role that I play, I must be higher annually, especially as a finger spinner. You could evolve, it’s essential to add strings to your bow.”
“I’m quite a bit more confident in my ability. I don’t have as many doubts as I did back then and I used to be fighting for a spot within the team. Now I feel like I actually have the skill set to compete. Whether or not it goes my way is usually the luck of the draw, but so long as I can look back and say that I put an excellent amount of balls in the correct area, then I might be completely happy with that,” Harmer said
A cricket enthusiast whose dreams of playing for India paved the best way for a compelling journey in journalism. With a comprehensive coverage spanning international and domestic cricket across formats, I actually have had …Read More
A cricket enthusiast whose dreams of playing for India paved the best way for a compelling journey in journalism. With a comprehensive coverage spanning international and domestic cricket across formats, I actually have had … Read More
November 15, 2025, 20:31 IST
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