O Keefe wreaks havoc as India bowled out for 105 on Day 2

Pune Feb 24 (IANS) Riding on Steve O Keefe s brilliant bowling Australia bundled India out for 105 runs in the first innings on the second day of the first cricket Test at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium here on Friday.

O Keefe wreaked havoc on the Indian camp bagging six wickets for 35 runs.

India are now 155 runs behind the visitors who took seven wickets in the second session to put themselves in a commanding position.

Resuming the post-lunch session at 70/3 the Indian batsmen never looked in contention as they lost their remaining seven wickets for just 35 runs.

The 32nd over saw a complete turnaround of the match as spinner O Keefe took three wickets to have the hosts struggling at 95/6.

The first one to go was Lokesh Rahul (64) who was the highest scorer. Ajinkya Rahane (13) who forged a 50-run partnership for the fourth wicket was next to depart.

Wriddhiman Shah (0) who came in with half the team back in the pavilion was also sent packing in the same over.

Lower-middle order batsmen Ravichandran Ashwin (1) Ravindra Jadeja (2) Jayant Yadav (2) and Umesh Yadav (4) all failed to rise to the occasion as they were also dismissed by Australian spinners.

Apart from O Keefe pacer Mitchell Starc scalped two wickets for 38 runs while Jose Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon took a wicket each.

Brief scores:

Australia 260/10 (Renshaw 68 Starc 61 Umesh 4-32 ) against India 105/10 (Lokesh Rahul 64 Ajinkya Rahane 13 Murali Vijay 10; Steve O Keefe 6-35 Mitchell Starc 2-38) on Day 2.

--IANS
gau/sac/vt