Courtesy a magical spell of 6 for 35 by Stephen O’Keefe, Australia took firm control of proceedings on the second day of the first Test against India in Pune, dismissing the hosts for 105 to take a lead of 155 runs in their first innings.
The turnaround began in the 33rd over of the innings.
You can watch the incredible over here.
KL Rahul, who was looking comfortable having spent the maximum amount of time in the middle since play began on Friday, decided that he had seen enough of O’ Keefe and opted for the aerial route.
However, he could not get the connection that he desired and was caught by David Warner on the long-off boundary for 64. In the process of going for that stroke, Rahul also injured his left shoulder and dejectedly walked back to the pavilion.
It was an important wicket for the visitors, which then opened te floodgates. A couple of balls later, the left-arm spinner squared up Ajinkya Rahane, the ball took the outside edge of the bat and Peter Handscomb took an absolute blinder at second slip to leave India in dire straits at 95 for 5.
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If the crowd at the Gahunje Stadium thought that they had seen the last of the wickets in that over, they were to be proven wrong as Wriddhiman Saha was beaten off the final ball of that over, the ball took the glove and Steve Smith took a simple catch at first slip.
It was an incredible six balls of action and one which once again showed the frailties of the present Indian batting line-up against any slow bowling. None of the previous teams who came to India in this long home season provided as big a threat with their spinners as much as O’ Keefe has done so far.
The spinner has hit the right areas, give good amount of revolutions on the ball and induced the error in the batsmen. He eventually finished with figures of 6 for 35 in 13.1 overs as India capitulated to 105 all out to hand the Australians a huge lead of 155 runs.
To put the destruction caused by the Australian spinners in a sentence- Post the lunch interval, India lost 7 wickets for 11 runs in 48 deliveries in a matter of 39 minutes.
Earlier in the day, Australia were bowled out for 260. Ravichandran Ashwin removed Mitchell Starc for 61 in the opening over of the day to also go past Kapil Dev for the most number of wickets taken by an Indian in a domestic season.
Also read: Stats: R Ashwin overtakes Kapil Dev's record for most wickets in a season in India
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