{"id":19542,"date":"2025-10-20T23:41:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/ball-of-the-year-simon-harmer-wows-as-south-africa-prepare-spin-weapon-for-india-cricket-news\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T23:41:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:41:16","slug":"ball-of-the-year-simon-harmer-wows-as-south-africa-prepare-spin-weapon-for-india-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/ball-of-the-year-simon-harmer-wows-as-south-africa-prepare-spin-weapon-for-india-cricket-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Ball Of The Year? Simon Harmer Wows As South Africa Prepare Spin Weapon For India | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"story-9648132\">\n<p><span class=\"jsx-395e0e0beb19cb6e jsx-4143937483\">Last Updated:<\/span><time class=\"jsx-395e0e0beb19cb6e jsx-4143937483\">October 20, 2025, 15:03 IST<\/time><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"asubttl-9648132\" class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-4272185853 asubttl-schema\">Simon Harmer stuns Imam-ul-Haq with a spinning ball at Rawalpindi Stadium in the second Test, boosting South Africa&#8217;s hopes against Pakistan.<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-4272185853 amimg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Simon Harmer celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Imam-ul-Haq (Picture credit: AP)\" title=\"Simon Harmer celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Imam-ul-Haq (Picture credit: AP)\" src=\"https:\/\/images.news18.com\/ibnlive\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1627283897_news18_logo-1200x800.jpg?impolicy=website&amp;width=400&amp;height=225\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-4272185853\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Simon Harmer celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan&#8217;s Imam-ul-Haq (Picture credit: AP)<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"0\" class=\"story_para_0\">Veteran South Africa off-spinner Simon Harmer on Monday bowled a brilliant delivery to dismiss Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq for 17, a delivery which has garnered a lot of praise for the way it spun and caught the latter absolutely dumbfounded with the turn.<\/p>\n<p id=\"2\" class=\"story_para_2\"><span class=\"cf0\">On Monday at Rawalpindi Stadium, Harmer\u2019s vicious ball with a fresh red cherry tore through Imam\u2019<\/span><span class=\"cf0\">s<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> defense on Day 1 of the second Test, leaving fans and commentators alike stunned.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"4\" class=\"story_para_4\"><span class=\"cf0\">In his very first over, Harmer got the ball to turn. Bowling around the wicket to Imam, he pitched it well outside leg stump and it zipped across the batter to smash into off stump, sending the bails flying.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"5\" class=\"story_para_5\">Watch the video here:<\/p>\n<p id=\"7\" class=\"story_para_7\"><span class=\"cf0\">A stunned Imam could only watch in disbelief as Harmer celebrated with his teammates. The Proteas rallied around him, while fans online started linking the moment to South Africa\u2019s upcoming tour of India.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"9\" class=\"story_para_9\"><span class=\"cf0\">The Proteas are all set for a two-match Test series in India this November, with games in Kolkata and Guwahati. With spin-friendly conditions expected, fans are already buzzing about the potential impact of South Africa\u2019s spin trio, which could feature Keshav Maharaj, <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Senuran<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> Muthusamy and Harmer himself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"10\" class=\"story_para_10\"><span class=\"cf0\">The World Test Champions, led by Aiden Markram, are touring Pakistan and trail in the series after a 93-run defeat in the first Test. The opening match was marred by sloppy Protea fielding, with multiple dropped catches permitting Pakistan to seize control in their first innings. <\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"11\" class=\"story_para_11\"><span class=\"cf0\">Although the visitors fought back in the later stages, the early damage proved too costly to overcome.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"12\" class=\"story_para_12\"><span class=\"cf0\">On Monday, South Africa started the second Test well, with Harmer dismissing Imam in the 13th over of the morning session. However, the breakthrough did not translate into sustained pressure, as the track started to flatten and offered minimal turn for the spinners.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-4272185853 atbtlink fp\"><span>First Published:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rs\">\n<p>October 20, 2025, 15:01 IST<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-4272185853 brdcrmb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/\">News<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/cricket\/\">cricket<\/a>  <span class=\"brdout\"> Ball Of The Year? Simon Harmer Wows As South Africa Prepare Spin Weapon For India<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"coral-wrap\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f \">\n<div class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f coral-cont\">\n<div class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f coltoptxt\">Disclaimer: Comments reflect users\u2019 views, not News18\u2019s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/disclaimer\/\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f\">Terms of Use<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/privacy_policy\/\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"jsx-c9f81425ec968c48 jsx-4272185853 rmbtn news18_read_more\">Read More<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/cricket\/ball-of-the-year-simon-harmer-wows-as-south-africa-prepare-spin-weapon-for-india-ws-l-9648132.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Updated:October 20, 2025, 15:03 IST Simon Harmer stuns Imam-ul-Haq with a spinning ball at Rawalpindi Stadium in the second Test, boosting South Africa&#8217;s hopes against Pakistan. Simon Harmer celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan&#8217;s Imam-ul-Haq (Picture credit: AP) Veteran South Africa off-spinner Simon Harmer on Monday bowled a brilliant delivery to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}