1st Test - India v Australia @ Pune - Day 2 Review

1. Australia On Course For Famous Victory

Australia is on the brink of a famous victory in the First Test against India after a frenetic Day 2 in Pune. The much vaunted Indian batting line up was blown apart on their own doctored minefield as they were humbled for just 105 in a tick over 40 overs. An inspired Australian side are now perhaps just a day away from going 1 up in a series they were given little chance in competing let alone winning. Australia further solidified their strangle hold on the game by replying with 4/140 late on Day 2 as there lead surged towards a near impenetrable 300. Now only an amazing 4th innings rear guard, on a wicket deteriorating further by the minute, can save India from what would be a seismic wake-up call in this suddenly alive series. Australian captain Steve Smith led from the front with a typically counter attacking and pugnacious half century as Australia grinded India further into the dust he final session. 

It was the much maligned Steven O'Keefe who did the bulk of the damage taking 6/34, including an incredible burst of 5/5 shortly after the lunch break. However, it was Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, the two Aussie spearheads, that did an outstanding job in the first session, picking up the three huge wickets of Vijay, Pujara and Kohli. Hazlewood enticed Vijay into an edge behind, before Starc produced the delivery of the match, rearing from just short of a length, to dismiss Pujara just as he was looking well set. The huge wicket of Virat Kohli was taken just two balls later as the Indian captain played a rare false shot, slashing at a wide half volley only to edge it straight to slip, to propel delirious celebration from every member of the Australian team out on the field. Lokesh Rahul was the only Indian batsman to offer any resistance with a sparkling 64 as the opener took the attack to the Australian bowlers. However, Rahul, having looked in outstanding touch, played a terrible shot which set off a dramatic collapse from India's middle and lower order. 

2. O'Keefe May Finally Feel Like He Belongs

To be honest, Steven O'Keefe might have bowed similar spells in First Class and Test Cricket which had yielded one or two wickets and plenty of hard graft. However, here he found himself as the right man at the right time to pick up his maiden 5-wicket haul in Test Cricket on his way to 6/35 from 13 overs. If truth be told, O'Keefe started fairly averagely and looked ineffectual in his first 8 overs however a change of ends brought about a stunning reversal in fortunes for O'Keefe as he captured 5/5 in an amazing burst post lunch. Not only did those five overs turn the Test match on its head, but it also would have given O'Keefe some vindication and belonging after all his years of hard graft and back handed compliments. I have always been a very loyal fan of O'Keefe as an underrated and extremely consistent cricketer capable of doing well in test cricket . You don't average 23 in First Class cricket in over a decade if you're a mug, yet plenty of people in the public and even an all time great like Shane Warne might tell you that in a round about way. O'Keefe has often been lauded with faint praise or worse so, labelled innocuous, safety first, defensive - I'm sure he has heard it all before. 

I always thought O'Keefe would prove successful over here because he bowls at a flattish trajectory and can pin batsmen to the crease. With some balls sliding on and some balls turning, it makes him a nightmare to face, and whenever the Indians did come down the wicket to him, they were walking off the ground.  Even O'Keefe himself wouldn't have been sure which balls were going to grip and which ones might hold their line. Yes I know this wicket is highly in favour of spin bowlers, however that heaps more pressure on spinners like O'Keefe as they know they are going to get hammered if they don't take big hauls. I said at the start of the Tour I was really confident O'Keefe would do well over here and outperform Nathan Lyon. I actually thought Lyon bowled just as well as O'Keefe here, however O'Keefe has the advantage of bowling stump to stump to all the Indian right handers. If India keep serving up goat tracks like the one they did here they will be playing right into O'Keefe's hands. 

3. This Is The Wake Up Call India Needed And It's Great For The Series

This is exactly what can happen to a side that has been on a long winning run and at the back end of what has been a pretty taxing summer. This sort of thing is common not just in cricket but in any profession sport across the world. Teams sub consciously or consciously get complacent, lazy, lose focus and suddenly you can go from hero to zero very quickly. There is no more humbling game in the world then cricket and India will feel the brunt of this after this looming defeat. No more so has this been evident then in the field where India put in a shocking display on Day 2 putting down a number of regulation catches. Fielding is the hardest thing to do in cricket and If your mind is elsewhere it will show up over the course of 5 days. India were unbeaten in their last 20 home Tests and had won 10 and drawn 2 of their last 12 Tests against Australia on home soil. However, preparing this raging turner has instead perhaps inadvertently given you an insight into the laziness and complacency that might have crept into this camp at the start of this series. Subconsciously, a lot of the Indians might have thought the wicket was going to do the work for them and, if they were not getting runs, the next man would step up and save the day. 

Even on Day 1 the likes of Ashwin and Jadeja might have had decent figures, however they bowled well below their best on a minefield. Against England, India were forced to graft and persist for their victories, many of which came late on the 5th day. Here, from the outside looking in, they expected to turn up and Australia would simply roll over as they have in the past. However, I said before a ball was bowled in this series, Australia are in a really good spot because expectations were so low from the outside. With a nothing to lose mindset, and perhaps a lot freer mind and wiser game plan from lessons learned from past tours, Australia have played inspired cricket for the majority of the two days here in Pune. A 1-0 lead for Australia looks likely, if not a formality, as there is no way this Indian side will bat as badly as they did in the First Innings any time again in this series. If it does end up 1-0 to Australia, for the natural cricket lover it's exactly the sort of result this tie needed to really spice things up and make it a real contest. India will be heavily criticised for this display, and Australia will be galvanised by perhaps a rare win on Indian soil. It will set things up tantalisingly for the rest of the series.