HomeNewsIND vs AUS, 1st Test: O'Keefe's 12-for gifts visitors win in series opener
India vs Australia, 1st Test: Steve O’Keefe’s 12-for gifts Australia win in series opener
On a track that helped spinners and pacers alike, left-arm orthodox Steve O'Keefe scalped 12 wickets and was rightly adjudged Man of the Match for his record-breaking performance.
Australia trounced India by 333 runs in the first of the four-Test series, at Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium. This was Australia’s first victory on Indian soil in 14 years. The last, in fact, had come at Nagpur in 2004-05. However, on a track that helped spinners and pacers alike, left-arm orthodox Steve O’Keefe scalped 12 wickets and was rightly adjudged Man of the Match for his record-breaking performance. His 12 for 70 is the best figures by an Australian bowler in India. Full cricket scorecard: India vs Australia, 1st Test
“I’ve never seen a pitch like this in Indian conditions. A pitch that dry suggests that there has been no water on this for the last 7-8 days. Some huge cracks here and that without the sun coming out. It is 40-degrees Celsius in the afternoons, and it could well spin from ball one. But when the ball lands on the footmarks, the ball will misbehave and reverse for the quicks as well,” Ravi Shastri had said in a booming voice during the pitch report.
India, nonetheless, lost the toss and was asked to bowl first. Wasting no time, Virat Kohli introduced Ravichandran Ashwin in the very second over. The bowled turned square. It beat either sides of the edges. A few produced vicious bounce. A few stayed low. In other words, the track spell doom for the batsmen. Live blog: India vs Australia, 1st Test, Day 3
Amidst the bowlers domination, Matt Renshaw scored a resilient 68 despite having a stomach bug. Meanwhile, none of the top- and middle-order batsmen crossed the 50-run mark. To provide some respite towards the end of the innings, Mitchell Starc used the long handle to blasting effect and plundered 61 off 63 inclusive of 6 fours and 3 sixes. Australia were eventually folded for 260.
In reply, Australia pacers dismissed Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Kohli in quick succession. The onus was then on KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane to clear they deficit. They added 50 runs for the fourth wicket before the opener played a rash shot off O’Keefe and holed out straight to David Warner at long-off. All the same, little did anyone guessed that this would be first of the many wickets O’Keefe would take.
In retrospect his first spell bore no fruit. He conceded 23 runs from 6 overs without taking any wicket.
In the same over he removed Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha. From 94 for 3, India were reduced to 95 for 6. But O’Keefe was in no non-sense mood. He went on to take 6 for 35 and dismantled India for 105, taking a lead of 155 runs. India lost their last 7 wickets for 11 runs.
The second innings saw Smith lead from the front, scoring his maiden hundred in India. Renshaw and Mitchell Marsh scored 31 runs in the middle order. Australia posted a mammoth target of 441 runs on a track that caught the batsmen in spin.
India’s story in the second innings was no different. For that matter, we also saw an encore of O’Keefe’s performance. He became only the second player to have best identical figures, after BS Chandra (5 for 52 vs Australia in 1977-78).
Both teams will now locks horns for the second Test at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium starting March 4.
Brief scores:
Australia 260 (Matt Renshaw 68, Mitchell Starc 61; Umesh Yadav 4 for 32, R Ashwin 3 for 63) & 285 (Matt Renshaw 31, Steven Smith 109, R Ashwin 4 for 119) beat India 105 (KL Rahul 64; Steve O’Keefe 6 for 35, Mitchell Starc 2 for 38) & 107 (Cheteshwar Pujara 31; Steve O’Keefe 6 for 35) by 333 runs.
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