An Aussie win not seen for 81 years

The unprecedented nature of Australia's victory over India in Pune is highlighted not only by what the likes of Steve Smith and Steve O'Keefe managed to do, but also by what some of their biggest stars didn't do.

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Australia stunned the world's best Test nation by a record margin in their own backyard, and they did so with two of their most potent weapons, pacemen Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, virtually waiting in reserve.

The superb bowling of O'Keefe and Nathan Lyon restricted Starc and Hazlewood, two of the best fast bowlers in the world, to the role of onlookers for much of the three days, save for their critical partnership with the bat late on first evening.

The pace pair picked up the opening three Indian wickets of the match, setting the tourists on course for victory, but they were restricted to a total of just 20 overs between them across both innings, while pace-bowling allrounder Mitchell Marsh wasn't required to bowl at all.

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Fast bowling has almost always been Australia's strength, but this was a victory built on spin in a manner not seen in Baggy Green for more than 80 years.

The 120 deliveries of pace in Pune was the third-least ever by an Aussie bowling attack in a completed Test match and their lowest tally since the New Year's Test against South Africa in 1935-36.

On that occasion, Australia's spin trio of Bill O'Reilly, Clarrie Grimmett and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith were almost unplayable on a Cape Town surface that had been flooded by days of heavy rain, with sole quick Ernie McCormick and part-time medium-pacer Stan McCabe sending down just six overs between them for the match.

The only other instance of an Aussie pace attack bowling 120 deliveries or less in a completed Test came way back in the summer of 1901-02, when another wet surface at the MCG restricted the Aussie quicks to just 60 balls across two England innings.

While relying almost exclusively on spin is far from unprecedented for other nations – Sri Lanka's victory over Australia in Galle last year, for example, included just five overs from their quicks – it is almost unheard of for an Australian side.

Image Id: 0DE06B4BB1984393BC2DE0C95E8BCA36 Image Caption: Hazlewood and Starc bowled just 20 overs between them in Pune // Getty

And in an era where fast-bowling workloads are regimentally monitored, the tourists will be buoyed by the fact their quicks will head into the second Test as fresh as they've ever been partway through a series.

For a match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, a venue regarded as one of the most pace friendly in the country.

Hazlewood's match tally in Pune of just nine overs is the lowest of his career, halving his previous low of 18, which came in the washed-out SCG Test against the West Indies a little more than a year ago. His previous low in a match where Australia's opponents completed both of their innings was the 24 overs he sent down in Galle last year.

Starc's 11 overs at the MCA Stadium is also a career-low, almost half the 21.2 overs he bowled against the West Indies in Dominica in 2012, while Marsh had bowled in all of his previous 19 Tests before last week, with his previous low being the nine overs he sent down in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Pallekele last year.

And given the dry and dusty surface at the MCA Stadium last week back-fired spectacularly on the hosts, the Aussies are expecting vastly different conditions when they arrive at the Chinnaswamy Stadium for the first time tomorrow.

"I think it will be better," was coach Darren Lehmann's assessment when asked this week what he expected from the pitch at Bengaluru, adding the tourists had toyed with the idea of a three-pronged spin attack for the first Test.

"But at the end of the day you can't control that, you get what you get.

"You've just got to play on it and play the best that you can. That's the way we played for two-and-a-half days (in Pune).

"It was a tight call (in Pune), we just picked the attack that we thought would get 20 wickets, knowing spinners were going to get most of them.

"But you've obviously got two quality quicks in Hazlewood and Starc, that's our best attack at the moment.

"When we get into Bangalore we'll sum that up."

Least deliveries by pace bowlers in a Test
(Australia only, matches where opponents batted twice)

• 36 v South Africa, Cape Town, 1935-36
• 60 v England, Melbourne, 1901-02
• 120 v India, Pune, 2017
• 138 v South Africa, Melbourne, 1931-32
• 150 v West Indies, Sydney, 1930-31