PUNE: For the first time in three days, the MCA Stadium looked like it was hosting a Test match. About 15,000 in the stands, fans cheering a boundary by Virat Kohli, scores lining up to take a snap of Shane Warne standing outside the commentary box, it was ideal third-day atmosphere.
What unfolded before their eyes, however, was not what they had wanted to see. Following the first-innings disaster a day earlier, India’s defeat in the first Test was imminent. Hurting more was the inability to put up a fight. Chasing an unlikely 441 to win, India were gone with the spin in 33.5 overs. The first Test was over with an hour and 40 minutes remaining on Day 3.
Ball turning and hissing, fielders around the bat and appeals of bat-pad or leg-before every now and then, survival was tough out there. The 333-run capitulation ended India’s 19-Test unbeaten run under Kohli. It was also a first defeat at home after 20 Tests, after the one against England in Kolkata in 2012.
Among other statistical highlights, this was India’s fourth biggest defeat in terms of runs and the second biggest by the same yardstick at home. The combined duration of two Indian innings was 74 overs. Australia batted 94.5 overs in the first innings and 87 in the second.
Turn was the password to success again, as Steve O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon started the job of dismantling the batting in the second innings. After Murali Vijay and KL Rahul fell leg-before, Kohli misread one and shouldered arms to one that knocked back his off stump. That the openers sought the help of the DRS unsuccessfully meant India lost both reviews by the sixth over.
The unheralded O’Keefe was Australia’s man of the moment. Introduced in the fifth over, the left-arm spinner from New South Wales was spot on from the first over in terms attacking the stumps and other than one being bowled, four of his six victims were trapped leg-before. Coming to this game with 14 wickets in four Tests, the 32-year-old finished the match with 12.
Earlier on Day 3, captain Steve Smith led Australia’s mission to bat India out of the match. His 18th century will be talked about and remembered for the circumstances and conditions it came in. With most batsmen struggling to come to terms with the pitch, Smith lived a charmed life on Day 2, but made sure he made most of it. Not many visiting batsmen have constructed such centuries on a turning track in India, where home batsmen found life difficult.
Australia thus proved wrong predictions that they would suffer embarrassment in India. Batting, bowling and fielding, they were superior in all departments. A lot of cricket is still to be played in the series, but they will carry the confidence that comes from such a thumping win. For India, it should be a wake-up call.
Brief scores: Australia 260 & 285 (Smith 109, Renshaw 31, Mitch Marsh 31, Starc 30, Ashwin 4/119, Jadeja 3/65, Umesh 2/39) vs India 105 & 107 (Pujara 31, O’Keefe 6/35, Lyon 4/53). Australia won by 333 runs.