India slumps to 333 run defeat in first Test

PUNE, Feb 25: Anil Kumble after the second day’s play in Pune said, “There is always a first time,” in reference to India’s torrid collapse in the opening Test against Australia. “We didn’t adapt really well (to the pitch). Probably if you look at yesterday (day 1), the first 80 runs in the first session and the last 60 runs for the last wicket, that slightly took us away from what we were wanting to restrict Australia to,” he would go on to add.

And India’s inability to adapt to the pitch was further visible in the second innings when the hosts were bowled out for 107 and went on to lose by 333 runs and go down 1-0 in the four-match Test series. Steve O’Keefe once again played the pivotal role in bringing down the wall that had been the Indian batting with figures of 6/35 and was equally supported by his fellow spinner Nathan Lyon who bagged 4/53 including the last three wickets.

The defeat brings to an end India’s dominance at the top of the pyramid and the unbeaten streak of 19 matches with Virat Kohli losing his first home Test as captain since taking over from MS Dhoni.

In the second innings, India were handed a massive target of 441 with only Cheteshwar Pujara held fort with 31 runs while wickets fell at the other end without much resistance.