It hasn't really sunk in yet: Steve O'Keefe

Team India had a forgettable day in the office today. The hosts were expected to dominate the match right from the word go. However, a sensational spell from Australian spinner Steve O’Keefe saw an ugly collapse of the star-studded Indian batting line up. It is not an everyday story to see the Indian side succumb meekly in their own backyard. Surely, the credit has to go to the Australian tweakers for their effort.

O’Keefe, in particular, was the wrecker in chief as he scalped 6 wickets on the day. The Indian spinners also bowled on the same track but with much lesser success than what the Australian spinner had. Reflecting back on the day’s play, Steve O’Keefe noted why they succeeded on this track while the tweakers from the opposition failed.

He also admitted that things happened pretty quickly and it is yet to sink in for him. He will only be delighted if they manage to win the match, which at the moment looks like a certainty unless something special comes up from the Indian batting line up. Citing the chief difference between the two sides and their slower bowlers, he noted that the Aussies held on to their chances while the Indian fielders were sloppy.

“It’s amazing how things can quickly change over here. I was none for 30 off nine overs, probably didn’t bowl very well at all in my first six overs. And then, it all just happened really quickly, and I guess that’s the sort of wicket it is. We played and missed a lot of balls and fortunately for us, they nicked them and we caught them. So it was a good day to be a part of and well finished off by the batters,” quoted Steve O’Keefe.

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“It hasn’t really sunk in yet. It will, if that contributes to a win. Right now, we’ll enjoy we had a good day, but that’s all it is. It was a good day’s cricket. We all know how good this Indian team is, how well they can bat, and even in spinning conditions they are exceptional players,” he added further.

Interestingly, the Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon was seen bowling from the same end from which Ravichandran Ashwin was bowling. Talking about this, O’Keefe mentioned that it was a plan to make Lyon bowl from the same end as Ashwin. Mitchell Marsh was expected to create footmarks for the offie and that is exactly what they did on the day. On the contrary, he bowled from the end where Ravindra Jadeja bowled from.

“We were debating it in the changing rooms. Mitchell Starc and I didn’t really care which end we bowled at. The idea was for Mitch to create some footmarks for Nathan outside off stump at that end, so I think the move was just to bowl Nathan from that end because that’s the end that Ashwin’s bowled his overs from,” noted the Australian spinner.

“(Ravindra) Jadeja probably bowled most of his overs at that (his own) end, so it was just good fortune, I guess. When I started to bowl my first six overs, I think I went probably back to my comfort zone, which is what I bowl in Australia. It was just probably going a bit over the top and whenever I was trying to bowl quick, it was too full. It was ordinary bowling the first six overs. I’d been working in the nets with some other variations, just changing the seam angle and arm angle. It made all the difference,” he explained further.

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Lastly, he conceded that he is happy to see a turner at display. Back in Australia, they do not usually get rank turners and hence the job for the spinners is very limited. However, he accepted that still more work is to be done in the match.

“It’s always nice to see a spinning wicket. You don’t get to see it too often back in Australia. But in saying that, you know in seeing a wicket like that, there’s going to be a lot of onus and you’re going to have to carry a lot of workload. Heavy lifting has to be done by spinners on that wicket,” conceded Steve O’Keefe.