Smith, O’Keefe Give Aussies Total Control of Test
- Australia vs India First Test – Pune
It was a tale of the two Steves as Australia took a vice like grip on the first Test after completely outplaying India on Day 2 of the match. Left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe triggering a collapse by picking up 6 wickets as the visitors bowled India out for 105 in the first innings to take a 155-run lead.
Australian captain Steve Smith survived three dropped catches to take the visitors to 143/4 in the second innings with his team leading the hosts by 298 runs with six wickets in hand.
It could have been worse for India, though it’s hard to imagine how. Virat Kohli might have spontaneously combusted, or Ravichandran Ashwin could have suffered a freak shaving accident in the morning and sliced his arm off. But aside from those admittedly long shots, the day went about as badly for India as it could have. By stumps, they were facing the very real prospect of losing a home Test to Australia for the first time since 2004.
Of course, the second day’s play showed how quickly things can change, so India cannot be written off. But they will need to complete a chase of 300-plus to escape with a victory, something that has been achieved only once in Test history in India. On that occasion, back in December 2008, Sachin Tendulkar scored an unbeaten hundred to hunt down 387 against England in Chennai. But that was on a pitch that lacked the spite of this one.
This is a pitch on which 15 wickets tumbled on day two, including nine during a frenetic middle session, and on which India managed only 105 in their first innings. Steve O’Keefe ransacked the Indian middle and lower order for six wickets, which all came during a 25-ball spell after lunch. Three of those wickets came in one over, which triggered a stunning collapse during which India lost their last seven wickets for 11 runs, their worst such capitulation in Test history.
The collapse was not India’s only problem, though it began ominously when KL Rahul, who scored nearly two-thirds of India’s runs, suffered a painful injury to his left shoulder while slogging a catch into the deep. It was also a day on which Kohli was out for a duck for the first time in a home Test, and a day on which his Australian counterpart was given life after life. Steven Smith was dropped three times on his way to a half-century, and at stumps was still there.
The situation at the close of play was this: Australia were 143 for 4, leading by 298, with Smith on 59 and Mitchell Marsh on 21. Smith, in amongst his reprieves, used his feet well to India’s spinners and never got bogged down. The only Australian who did was Shaun Marsh, sent in to open because a nauseous Matt Renshaw had been off the field too long during India’s innings. Marsh spent 21 balls over a duck that ended when he was lbw to Ashwin’s straight ball.
