5 areas where Australia outdid India in the first Test

Australian spinners bowled fuller and forced the batsmen to play

 

So, Australia did the unthinkable and defeated India at their home. Experts and pundits in the course of time will offer their post-mortem analysis and will reveal how this miracle happened.

But if you think this victory had only to do with O'Keefe’s magic and Smith’s magnificent century, then look at these five little yet critical aspects where Smith’s men got better of India and created history in Pune. 

---

#1 Length of deliveries

This was one of the rare occasions where opposition spinners outshone Indian spinners. Steve O'Keefe and Nathon Lyon picked 17 wickets while Indian spinners managed only 14 wickets between themselves. Interestingly, the average of 30.14 per wicket of Indian spinners is way more than average of 8.29 of Aussie spinners.

So, what was the difference between the two teams? The pitch turned from day 1 and Indian spinners with the aim of getting more turn held their lengths back. It forced the ball to turn more but also resulted in it missing the outside edge. Aussie batsmen, especially, Steven Smith was consistently beaten outside off stump but that didn’t matter as seldom there was an outside edge.

On, the contrary, Australian spinners bowled fuller and forced the batsmen to play. It enabled them to have better control on spin. This helped in getting more edges and ultimately resulted in the creation of more wicket taking opportunities.