Day 3: 3rd Session - Australia won by 333 runs
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Steve OKeefe
If the series seemed a little predictable in the lead-up, it sure isn't after this game! This Indian team under Kohli hadn't known what it was like to lose at home. So how they respond is something to keep an eye on. Off to Bangalore from here in around a week. Do join us then. This is Sagar Chawla signing off on behalf of Vineet Anantharaman, Sriram and Pradeep. Cheers!
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A game for the statsmen. We leave you with a few, courtesy Deepu Narayanan* 212 is the lowest aggregate for India in a home Test where they batted twice.PRE: 247 (164
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O'Keefe: It's a good feeling. The first innings was a bit of a blur. For myself, the ball tended to skid on more than spin and it exposed the stumps. We know how hard it is to win over here but we still have to do a bit of work if we have to win the series. I'll remember the Hill End forever now. It was great to have the belief of the captain who backed me after my first six overs. Lyon bowled brilliantly as well. Our batters have been working very hard to not get beaten on the inside. I've enjoyed all my experience in India so far. The crowd's been very nice. Looking forward to Bangalore, a very beautiful place again. Looking forward to the challenges.
Steve O'Keefe is Man of the Match
Smith: It was gonna be hard work. A real grind. Really proud of how the boys have performed. Winning the toss was a bonus. Guys had good plans. 260 was a good total and bowlers backed us up. O'Keefe was outstanding throughout. We've got some good players of spin in our squad. We've got a well-rounded squad. We thought if we had a bit of luck and played to our plans throughout, we'd be a reasonable show. I'm proud of this achievement. It's been 4502 days since Australia won a Test in India, I know it to the day. Mitchell Starc's batting in the first innings was important. To have a lead of 160 is massive on this wicket. Spinners were consistent and let the wicket do the natural variation bit. O'Keefe was disappointed with the way he started. Probably bowled a bit too full. But when he pulled his length back, he looked like taking a wicket every ball. He's worked really hard for it. I had a bit of luck, but to score a hundred on a second innings wicket like that took a lot of grit and determination. I was pleased that I was able to get the team to a good score.
Kohli: I would like to think so (whether it's an anomaly). Really good run for us so far. We got outplayed in this game. No two ways about it. Australia were much better. We've got to take it on the chin. We never took them for granted. That's probably our worst batting display in the last two years. It was a case of not applying ourselves. Have to sit down and think what we did wrong. Batting was more disappointing than the bowling. We know that Pune is generally low and slow. They exploited it better than us and bowled at a good pace. There was a lot of pressure created on us. They deserved to win this game. I think we did pretty well. If you don't hold onto the chances, it's tough to get back in the game. As I said, I have no excuses, I take the loss on the chin. Big learning Test for me too. Sometimes you want to do stuff as a captain but there's only so much you can control. He's (Umesh) been working really hard for the past few months. He's got good pace and he's made good use of it in the past few months. He's got stronger. When it reverses, he's even more lethal.
Lehmann: Great result for us. Good all-round performance. It was going to be a challenge for both sides. For us, it was about putting to practice what he had worked on. Had a great preparation in Dubai. But it''s only one Test. Challenge is to replicate in Bangalore. O''Keefe did really well. Jadeja was tough. He probably spun it too much. O''Keefe got his length right especially when he changed ends. It was a great innings from Smith. The way he played was very special. That hour on Day 1 when him and Hazlewood put on 50 runs changed the momentum. The pitch will change for Bangalore. We''ll prepare accordingly.
Lyon: We learnt a lot four years ago. Credit to our coaches and our captain. Plan was to compete hard. We certainly did that. Very happy for Steve O'Keefe. Watched a lot of videos of Ashwin. He's a world class bowler. Tried to replicate what he does here. It's only one Test. We know they're a world class side and we know they'll come back hard. Don't think we've won a Test here since 2008 (sic). It's incredible. I'll take this pitch with me everywhere.
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Many suspect that Australia's spin potency has to do with the pitch. That it got their spinners into the game. While it's true, you can't help noticing that the visitors were much more lethal. Lyon turned it a lot more than Ashwin, turned it at pace and had a lot more fizz. O'Keefe turned it lesser but it worked for him in that he was able to find all the edges. The extent to which the Aussie duo outbowled their counterparts was staggering to say the least. Whether it's to do with how much bowling India have done in their home summer, you'll never know.
There were some splendid performances right from the first morning where Renshaw buckled down and even dumped all the odds to lay a solid foundation. In spite of a late collapse, a Starc cameo was enough to lift Australia to a decent score of 260 on a treacherous pitch. We found out how good that score was soon enough as Steve O'Keefe routed through India's middle and lower order for a maiden five-wicket haul (six eventually). India were always playing catch-up from there. The pressure of a massive deficit played a part in a below par bowling performance. Once the target got into the mid-400s, it was well beyond the realms of possibility. The O'Keefe show continued as the left-arm spinner went on to scalp twin five-wicket hauls in the match, dismissing 10 different batsmen in the process.
It was a great toss to win no doubt. But still, it was India in India. An Indian team which were undefeated for 19 matches in a row. An Indian team which toyed with all their opponents right through this home summer. It's tough to say how high this win will rank for the visitors, but it wouldn't be too far off from the top.
2.50pm: Wow. Who saw this coming! As big an upset as you get in modern day Test cricket. The Aussies are a delighted bunch as you'd expect. Those are some intense celebration scenes out there. On a raging turner here in Pune, they've outbowled and outbatted India by a mile.
Lyon to Jayant Yadav, out Caught by Wade!! That's it! Australia complete a 333-run hammering of the hosts to take a 1-0 lead in the series. A sharp off-break from Lyon, turning at pace and lobbing up off the pad after kissing the inside edge. Simple enough for Wade. Hang on, replays are in and it's crystal clear that the ball went straight off Jayant's pads, he will consider himself unlucky, but India didn't have a review either. Jayant Yadav c Wade b Lyon 5(17) [4s-1]
Lyon to Jayant Yadav, THATS OUT!! Caught!!
Lyon to Jayant Yadav, no run, punched away through the covers
Lyon to Jayant Yadav, no run, shimmies out and drives down to long-on
Lyon to Jayant Yadav, no run, slugged away over mid-on. Why not! It's just a matter of time now and Jayant goes down on the back knee and gives it a tonk. It's a miscue but he's able to clear the field