Pune: Australia had been billed as the underdogs before the four-match Test series and some former players including Harbhajan Singh had predicted a 0-4 whitewash as they suffered in the previous series here and had lost nine previous Tests in Asia. But Steve Smith led from the front with a century (109) while left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe recorded his best match figures of (12/70) by a foreign spinner in India to beat India by 333 runs in the first Test. Previously another Australian spinner Jason Krejza had best figures of 12/358 in India.
“Everyone wrote us off, expected us to lose 4-0, that can’t happen anymore. Proud to go 1-0 up in the series. We would like to win the series. If we continue processes for a long time, surely we will enjoy more success. India will come back hard and we got to be ready for it,” he said. “In Sri Lanka, we let opposition get back in the match but we didn’t let India back in this and it was pleasing to dominate,” he added.
Smith felt the first win in India since the 2004 Test win in Nagpur was well timed. “Coming to India, we had not won here for 4502 days. It was incredibly well timed. Boys were up to the challenge. We were fortunate to win the toss and put good score of 260 in first innings. Bowlers went about their work in amazing way and bowled in good areas. (Steve) O’Keefe bowled well and was well supported by (Nathan) Lyon and other fast bowlers,” Smith said.
