Harbhajan ‘colossal clown’; Ganguly ‘sheepish shocker’
NEW DELHI: Australia went from ‘underdogs’ to slayers of world No 1 India in the space of three days at the first Test in Pune, setting off delirious celebration among their supporters.
The Aussie media hasn’t missed any spin, putting down everyone who had written off Steve Smith’s side.
The favourite target though is the man Aussies love to hate --Harbhajan Singh. The former spinner, whose 32-wicket haul sparked India’s grand comeback series win at home in 2001, had declared the Aussies will be routed 4-0. that would be great, but I think Nathan Lyon is a better chance of taking a wicket.”
WARNE SPOKE TOO SOON
Maybe, Warne can blame skip per Smith for switching ends for O’keefe, who then demolished the Indian batting.
Former Aussie spin great is “The Mistaken Mallet”. Ashley’s crime? “Smith is not a risk-taker as captain, so chances are Aus tralia will field a safety-first 11 for Pune. That means O’keefe for (Mitch) Swepson and maybe Ashton Agar or even Mitch Marsh for Maxwell. Pity.”
The man who gets the thumbs up is former skipper Steve Waugh, who disagreed with Gan guly’s prediction that Australia will be swept aside while picking Ravichandran Ashwin, the world’s top-ranked bowler, as the main threat. He had advised “He’s the player I think we have to overcome, and if we can do that we have a chance.”
Former off-spinner Jason Krejza knows what it takes to claim 12 wickets in a Test in India, having done that in a los ing cause on the 2008 tour.