Pitch played into our hands: Smith

Victorious first Test captain Steve Smith says the Pune pitch that spun sharply from ball one narrowed the gap between two sides and in fact played into the hands of the tourists.

One of the major talking points in the build up to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was about spin bowling, in particular Australia’s apparent batting weakness against the turning ball and India’s endless supply of deadly slow bowlers.

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But it was the visitors, not the hosts, who handled the turning track best with both bat and ball to record an emphatic 333-run lead and with it take a 1-0 series advantage.

In its debut Test, the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium produced a pitch where 30 of the 40 wickets captured were taken by spin bowlers inside nine completed sessions.

India’s premier spinners, the world’s top-two Test bowlers Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, captured 12 scalps between them but were out-bowled by Australia’s spin twins Stephen O’Keefe an Nathan Lyon, who combined to collect 17 Indian wickets, including all 10 in the second innings.

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Smith was the only player to reach triple figures, but even that magnificent knock featured four dropped catches and an lbw appeal that would have been given out on review had India not burnt both their referrals.

On a pitch described as ‘Martian’ by champion leg-spinner Shane Warne, Australia prevailed and Smith said the surface, despite its alien nature, helped, not hindered, the visitors.

“I think it was certainly a wicket would more likely suit the Indian players,” Smith said.

“I think it evened up the contest a lot more.

“We saw the way our spinners bowled on that, they were able to generate good spin and good natural variation out of the wicket.

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“It was up to them (the MCA Stadium curators) to prepare a wicket they prepared a wicket that played in to our hands.

“It will be interesting to see what they come up with come Bangalore.”

Smith was full of praise for his dynamic spin duo, who were almost exclusively used in the fourth innings save for four overs by pace pair Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

“Both Nathan and Steve bowled a really good length and hit that length consistently,” he said.

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“If you’re challenging the defence and able to beat the bat on both sides you’re going to be a real good chance to take wickets on that wicket.

“‘SOK’ was able to beat the bat on both sides and find the edge and hit the pad consistently.

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“If you’re attacking the stumps enough like that then you’re going get your rewards.”

Test Squads

India (for first two Tests): Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandaran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya.

Australia: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Stephen O'Keefe, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade

Australia's schedule in India

Feb 17-19, Tour match v India A, Mumbai

Feb 23-27, First Test: Australia won by 333 runs, Pune

Mar 4-8, Second Test, Bengaluru

Mar 16-20, Third Test, Ranchi

Mar 25-29, Fourth Test, Dharamsala