New Delhi, Feb 27: Steve O’Keefe and Mitchell Johnson are as different as chalk and cheese but Australia coach Darren Lehmann thought the left-arm spinner was as devastating as the pacer during the 2013 Ashes in Australia.
Johnson had ran through the England batting to take 7/40 in the first innings to hand Australia a decisive lead as well as the match. Lehmann thinks O’Keefe had the same effect on India in Pune.
“An exceptional spell — I haven’t seen that since Mitchell Johnson in the Ashes with England in Adelaide when he tore them apart,” Lehmann was quoted as saying to espncricinfo.com. “Twelve-for, 6 for 35 in both innings is pretty special. You always hope don’t you, as a player,” he said.
It was Nathan Lyon and not O’Keefe who was touted as the bigger danger but the left-arm spinner came from behind to stun even some former players like Shane Warne. “I actually thought Nathan Lyon bowled just as well, to be perfectly honest. Nathan’s been under pressure from a lot of sources throughout the subcontinent, myself included. I thought he was outstanding in this game,” said Lehmann, before heaping praise on his captain Steve Smith for his match-winning hundred.
“I haven’t seen him so determined. He’s always determined – he’s captain of our country and plays really well obviously, but he knows conditions on that wicket (were difficult). To make a hundred was very special, so that’d have to be in his top few for sure,” said Lehmann.
Australia may have an early lead in this series but Lehmann is not willing to rest on the Pune laurels and is expecting India to come back hard at them.
“I think the way we played, we deserved to win by that much at the end,” he said. “But they are a quality side for the challenge for our group is to back that performance up in Bangalore. We are not getting too far ahead of ourselves. India are a quality at home, especially at home I think that’s the first Test they’ve lost in 20 matches so they will come back pretty hard.”
