Tests vs SA: How a Indian hand helped Simon Harmer rediscover his art

The focus will return to Simon Harmer, Player of the Match at Eden Gardens, when the Proteas get down to action at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati for the second Test this weekend. The 37-year-old offspinner has turned out to be the secret ace up their sleeves after Keshav Maharaj played the role of their lead spinner all these years.

An eight-wicket haul for 51 runs from both innings made him an unanimous candidate for Player of the Match on Indian soil—stealing the thunder from bigger names of his ilk like Maharaj, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel or the gifted Kuldeep Yadav. It came on the back of a six for 50 in the second Test in Pakistan where South Africa bounced back to level the series 1-1 and the self belief it gave them for the India tour was there for all to see.

 It was after second day’s play at the Eden when Harmer spoke as the top performer for the visitors after his four for 30 went a long way in keeping India’s first innings lead to barely 30 runs. Despite them grovelling at 93 for seven and India sensing a victory inside three days, Harmer’s words turned prophetic: ‘’It could be a different story tomorrow. I am looking at a situation that we score 150 tomorrow and then India be all out for 80.’’

The sport has seen many a comeback on the international stage but Harmer’s will be right up there. What makes it interesting is that there is an Indian hand behind it—that of Umesh Patwal—a spin coach whom he has visited before along with a bunch of other South African spinners way back in 2012. After being dropped from their Test squad following an insignificant tour of India back in 2015, Harmer had given up hopes of playing international cricket anymore and joined the Kolpak bandwagon to ply his trade with Essex in county cricket.

Replying to a National Herald query during his media interaction on how did he re-invent himself, Harmer opened up about the role a visit to India in 2016 played in his career. ‘’I don’t want to give you a long winded answer to this one but yes, I signed the Kolpak deal for I thought that I wasn’t good enough to play international cricket. I had been my fiercest critic and always wanted to come back to India for as a finger spinner, you need to always add few strings to your bow,’’ he said.

This is what brought him back to the Mumbai-based Patwal, now a Under-23 coach for Assam, who was thrilled at Harmer crediting him for his transformation as a spinner. ‘’I discovered a lot about myself in those 10 days which I didn’t know I had,’’ said Harmer, who went back to England after the stint to pursue his professional career and pick wickets.

However, it was not till 2022 that he received a sudden national call-up for a Test series in Bangladesh and had been on board since then. Harmer keeps on picking the journeyman coach Patwal’s brains off and on—calling him on the second evening of the first Test to find out how he should bat on such a treacherous wicket. “You see, he is in such a space with his bowling that we don’t discuss that much. So, it was about his batting,” Patwal said in an interview with Indian Express.

What is his core strength which undid the Indian batters in both innings? ‘’It was evident that you will have to force them play on front foot to make any mistakes,’’ Harmer explained. Despite not being a big turner of the ball, his biggest asset seemed to be a drift and loop as he looked like getting a wicket whenever he came on.

The speculation about the Guwahati wicket—which had always been a turner—has already begun. After Eden, Harmer will certainly weigh heavy on the Indian batters’ minds which will be devoid of captain Shubman Gill.