I talk sense so Australians listen to me, says Sriram

“I came down from the viewing area and I knew he (O’Keefe) was a little disturbed (at lunch on the 2nd day)”, Sriram said. He started out as a left-arm spinner and had to take up batting more seriously when he realised at the age of 20 that his spin bowling wasn’t cutting it. He had said, “Their batsmen have hardly blocked six balls in-a-row and that’s something that we have worked on…in our defence… We prepared different tracks. rough, rank turners, slow and low”, he said.

“I would say this was our worst batting performance and we need to accept that”. Smith was decisive with his footwork, and took singles to get off strike at every opportunity.

Having come to India prepared for the worst and got a pitch first up true to expectations, the Australian can afford to relax, thinking that it can’t get worse. I have been told those facts. “We know it’s a great challenge and in this game the boys were up to the challenge”, said Smith. His wicket is the first thing which India will look for on Day 3.

India’s shoddy performance with both bat and ball translated to their fielding too as they dropped numerous catches to compound their problems.

In reply, India lasted just 125 minutes and 33.5 overs – 6.2 overs fewer than its first essay – to concede all ten wickets to the spin duo of O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon. “India’s use of the DRS has been pretty ordinary”, Shane Warne said on Star Sports.

“It’s going to be right up there as well”.

Harbhajan is just one of many Indian cricket figures who have called for less spin-friendly pitches in the remainder of the series.

“So from that aspect, I am pleased with myself”.

The spin bowling coach added that Australia’s horror performance against Sri Lanka a year ago has made the team sit back and reflect on what needed to be done. Everyone wrote us off and expected India to win 4-0.

Smith expressed satisfaction with his team’s ability to learn from past mistakes after coming into the series on the back of nine Test losses in Asia. Australia is touring India for a four test series which is scheduled between February 23 and March 29. He ran out of reviews then straddled the line of dissent when Richard Kettleborough turned down two confident appeals on day three. But it’s only one game.

Australia will put then under pressure in the remaining three Test matches as well, and when they do, India need to show that this Pune game was an aberration.

“For us it’s continuing to worry about the processes and if we do that for long periods hopefully we can have more success on this tour”. “And the wickets take care of itself”. His first break here was luck: winning the toss.