Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian speedster, bossed the opening day of the first Test against South Africa at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata, registering his 16th five-wicket haul as the hosts skittled the Test champions out for just 159. While India found themselves ahead of the game owing to yet another Bumrah special, the pacer was on the receiving end of the outrage, following a remark he made about the Proteas captain, Temba Bavuma, with regards to his short stature.
Bumrah used the Hindi word 'bauna' to describe Bavuma, while being in discussion with the wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, mulling a DRS call on the LBW appeal in the 13th over of the innings. 'Bauna' is colloquially used for persons who are vertically challenged. Both Bumrah and Rishabh Pant could be heard using the word, while putting their argument across as to whether the ball hitting Bavuma's knee-roll would still go on to hit the stumps, since he isn't the tallest person.
While replays showed it would miss the stumps and that Pant's call not to go for the review was correct, Bumrah's words went viral on social media, with many calling them disrespectful to the South African skipper. South African batting coach Ashwell Prince was asked about the same at the press conference after the end of the first day's play and the former cricketer chose to downplay the incident, saying that there was not going to be any discussion and that their focus was purely on the game and not care about the off-field chatter.
"No, there will be no discussion. It's the first time, obviously, it's come to my attention. I don't think there'll be any issues with what's happened out in the middle," Prince said.
Bumrah had his tails up at that point, bowling his seventh consecutive over, having taken out both the openers, Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton, in quick succession and if India had gotten rid of Bavuma then, the hosts would have firmly been on top. By the end of the day's play, India had brought the deficit down to 122, with nine wickets still in hand.
