Steve Smith Unfolds Australia’s Famous Win Over India In Pune
Jan 14, 2019 at 7:01 AM
Australian captain Steven Smith has done a Facebook Live on Monday and revealed what all ingredients were put in for Australia to register an emphatic win over India in Pune Test.
The visitors handed a heavy 333-run defeat to India, which also saw their 19-match unbeaten streak coming to a sad end.
Steven Smith, who had a role in scripting Australia’s first win in sub-continent since 2011 with an impressive second innings hundred, has unfolded the three-day journey of the first Test match and unveiled what all went their way.
Starting with the first day, the captain said opening stand between David Warner and Matt Renshaw gave them a positive start and later explained how Mitchell Starc’s gritty 63 helped them set the tone in the first innings. He too giggled about Renshaw’s toilet going incident by replicating his words, ‘If you got to go to the toilet, you got to go the toilet.’
He kept some words of praise for his bowlers as well, saying the department clicked; right from Starc to Steve O’Keefe. He added O’Keefe’s success had much to do with the natural variation he got off the surface and also the good areas he hit during his spell. Unsurprisingly, he admits the slow left-armer deserved the appreciation.
The hundred he scored was tagged amongst his best as per many. Well, he himself said, he changed the way he plays in the second innings, which was tough to bat on, given the broken, dry surface underneath. He said he played some unconventional shots, like a couple of reverse sweeps to heave runs, which fortunately he could.
The Pune’s protagonist, Stephen O’Keefe seem to have found a good space in Smith’s mind, who applauded his match-winning figures of 12/70. Breaking his silence over how the visitors played better on a raging turner, he said Australian team practised on some challenging tracks prior to the series in Dubai, which eventually have fallen in right place for them.
As Australia happen to gain the one-nil lead in the series, Smith says his side is not thinking way too ahead and they expect the host to come back hard at them.
The skipper also said a lot better strip is expected to be given for the Bengaluru Test. The second match begins on March 4.