Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah conceded that the visitors realised they had made a mistake by bowling fuller lengths in the first innings of their 72-run defeat in Cape Town Test and that they immediately made the adjustments in the second.
The 24-year-old, who made his Test debut in Cape Town much to the surprise of the South Africans, added that the Indian bowlers will be watching videos of their bowling in the first Test in order to hit the right lengths consistently in the second Test, starting Saturday (January 13) in Centurion.
India started the much-anticipated tour on a high when Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up three early wickets on Day 1 of the first Test to leave South Africa reeling at 12/3. However, the hosts managed to recover and post 286 on the board, thanks to half centuries from AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis.
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Bhuvneshwar did not get support from the other end as both Mohammad Shami and Bumrah were struggling to bowl the right lengths on the pace-rich Newlands wicket. The latter even bowled quite a few overpitched deliveries, which Du Plessis drove to the boundary with ease.
Just for fun - when @ashwinravi99 decided to bowl seam instead of spin #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/7bsCpndNkk
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 11, 2018
However, Bhuvneshwar and co. came back strong in the second innings to bowl out South Africa for just 130. The bowlers were hitting the good length more often than not and thereby reaped the rewards.
Bumrah dismissed Du Plessis and Quinton de Kock with two unplayable deliveries before coming back to pick up De Villiers to wrap up the South African innings.
"In the first innings we thought we bowled a little fuller than the normal because in India the wickets are different where we have to pitch fuller to get the swing and to get the batsmen on the front foot," Bumrah told the media on Thursday, January 11 in Centurion.
He added: "Over here there is bounce, there is a little bit of difference. We analysed that and tried to adapt in the second innings, and as a unit we were able to create pressure, so that was the basic plan going into the second innings. That worked well.
"So hopefully, we will see videos of these wickets, what happens over here and we plan according to it.
"We realised what mistakes we made in the first innings, so we were trying to create pressure from both ends and focus on our lengths, which were wrong in the first innings."
Confidence doesn't dent after one match: Bumrah
Bumrah also maintained his confidence did not dip after an ordinary outing in the first innings. The Gujarat fast bowler, who has established himself as one of the best limited-overs bowlers, conceded at almost four an over in the first innings before coming back impressively in the second innings.
"Confidence doesn't dent after one match. If it happens, then you don't deserve to play. Learn from the mistake you made, and go forward," Bumrah said.
"There is not a single cricketer who has not made a mistake. You keep learning and you keep improving all the time. We are trying to rectify our mistakes and move forward," he added.
