Kolkata, Nov. 15 -- The unfairness of Jasprit Bumrah never bowling a Test spell at Eden Gardens was more than compensated in 14 overs, his unparalleled mastery on an inconsistent but lively Eden Gardens pitch yielding five wickets that broke South Africa's batting spine in clinical fashion. Mohammed Siraj overcame a wobbly start to take two wickets, as did Kuldeep Yadav after India surprised themselves by picking four spinners for the first time since Nagpur, 2012. The move paid off as South Africa were dismissed for 159 after choosing to bat, though Washington Sundar ended up being grossly underbowled with just one over to his name in the first innings. As fate would have it though, Washington was soon called out at No 3 to negotiate a passage of probing fast bowling from Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder with KL Rahul before a trial by spin from Keshav Maharaj in the fading light of Eden Gardens. Together, they blocked everything that came their way in that last hour to take India to 37/1 at stumps on Day 1 of the first Test here, still trailing South Africa by 122 runs. The only wicket to fall was of Yashasvi Jaiswal, whose dismissal came against the run of play given how he was all front foot and high elbows, driving and cutting with ease. But Jansen exploited his height to deny Jaiswal the space to cut, making the ball come into him and forcing a drag on to his stumps. The four that he had scored off the previous ball was to be the last boundary hit by India for the rest of the day, underscoring the difficulty in scoring if the right lengths were hit. South Africa need a higher percentage of that compared to India, considering they have gone in with just two spinners and two frontline pacers after Kagiso Rabada was ruled out due to a rib injury suffered on the first day of training here. India however pulled a rabbit out of the hat, picking two fast bowlers and four spinners, dropping B Sai Sudharsan while accommodating Axar Patel on a pitch that could become more up and down with time. It was a cautious but ultimately a prudent move. Siraj and Patel were ineffective in his first spell but their bowling depth allowed India to quickly switch to Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep in tandem with Bumrah, keeping South Africa on the backfoot. The visitors fought though, racing to 57/0 in the first 10 overs even though Bumrah conceded only nine of them in five overs. He usually limits himself to five or six over spells but this time Bumrah stretched himself and got rewarded for his patience and persistence. "If you want success in Test cricket, you need patience," said Bumrah later in the press conference. "This is a ground where the outfield is very fast and the wicket is hard, so if you are more desperate or if you go to bowl more magic balls, then the runs come very fast. If you bowl continuously in a good area, then you will get wickets." Factor in Bumrah's continuous assessment of the pitch to find the right lengths, and you know why he has ascended this peak of excellence so quickly and tightened his grip ever since. To go round the wicket and bend one into the quick-scoring Ryan Rickleton, only to make it shape away at the last moment and take his off stump was pure magic. But the one that got rid of the dangerous Aiden Markram was even more impressive. This one kicked off a length that only Bumrah could have hit, the ball shaping in to take the edge off Markram's gloves and fly to Rishabh Pant behind the stumps. This was unplayable and even Markram knew it. There was an element of luck attached to South Africa's scoring, prompting India to bring in Kuldeep and give him a backward short leg. No team has exploited the leg side trap as well as India since that 2020-21 tour of Australia, but this time Kuldeep was helming the plan. Temba Bavuma was playing with soft hands, but Kuldeep made him play wide from his front leg, giving a low catch that Dhruv Jurel held on well at leg slip. Still the early momentum took South Africa to 105/3 in 27 overs. But after lunch, Kuldeep and Bumrah came together to trigger a mini collapse. Mulder was trying to rattle Kuldeep with his reverse sweep but he finally missed one and was struck plumb for leg-before. Then it was Bumrah's turn to get de Zorzi, foxing him with a ball that shaped in and struck him on the back pad after beating his inside edge. That dismissal led to a complete standstill of the South African innings, the remaining five wickets falling for just 39 runs....