WATCH: Mohamad Siraj’s double-wicket over gives South Africa body blow in IND vs SA 1st Test in Kolkata

During India’s previous Test trip to England for five Tests, it was Mohammad Siraj who strapped his shoes on every single day of the game and kept running in with a lot of energy. When Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t around during the fifth game in South London, he inspired the Blue Brigade to victory. And he aimed to continue the same success during the home Protea series.

However, it was a wayward start for Bumrah, whose first leg-side delivery was tucked into the leg side by Ryan Rickelton. Since then, both the opening batters- including Aiden Markram- cracked several boundaries against Siraj to take them to a flying start with the bat. Mohammad Siraj left the field in anger.

See Also: WATCH: Kuldeep Yadav dismisses Wiaan Mulder on 24 during IND vs SA 1st Test in Kolkata

But in the second spell of the Hyderabad-born, there was a massive difference in the performance of the bowler, who found the right line and length to channel India’s brutal comeback into the clash. He changed the direction of the contest with the double-wicket over of Marco Jansen and Kyle Verreyne.

Watch: Mohammad Siraj dismisses Marco Jansen and Kyle Verreyne during IND vs SA Kolkata Test

 On the first ball of the 45th over of the first innings, Siraj trapped the Protea wicket-keeper batter, Verreynne, for 16 runs before the stumps. The right-handed batter was late to bring his bat down as the ball brushed the back of the bat with the angle into the off-side. The impact was in front of the stumps as ball-tracing confirmed it would have crashed into the middle stump.

Two balls later, Marco Janse was late on the shot. The lanky batter covered the stumps, but it wasn’t enough to stop the ball from Siraj's jag ball, and it sneaked through the bat-pad gap to hit the top of the stump.

The Proteas suddenly found themselves seven down for 150-odd runs. Earlier in the morning, Jasprit Bumrah was on fire with the wickets of Markram and Rickelton, while the left-arm wrist spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, also collected two vital wickets in the innings so far.