Smith's innings was one of the best Test hundreds: Mohammad Azharuddin

Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin was critical of India’s dismal show at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune. He was brutally honest in his opinion and said that left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja did not bowl too well and that Steve O’Keefe read the pitch better than Jadeja.

“I think a similar pitch was prepared when Michael Clarke got his 6 for 9 in Mumbai. This was a bad pitch to bat on. But I am not at all happy with how the spinners bowled on a track like this — especially Ravindra Jadeja.” Azhar was quoted as saying.

He stated that O’Keefe bowled perfectly and Jadeja should have rather bowled the line the Australian did. “O’Keefe bowled the line that Jadeja should have bowled. If you looked at Jadeja’s line, it was on off-stump or slightly outside the off-stump trying to make use of the rough. That was where he made the mistake. On this track, Jadeja’s channel would have never got him wickets and that’s precisely what has happened.”

He continued lauding O’Keefe while talking to Times of India. “Now what did O’Keefe bowl? He bowled on the middle and leg line and didn’t try for big turn. The batsmen can’t leave such deliveries. As a result, he got four lbw decisions. An orthodox left-arm spinner when he is getting 4 lbws means that he was bowling straight, knowing pitch will do the rest,” said the ex-Indian player from Hyderabad.

Also read- MS Dhoni leads Jharkhand to their first win in Vijay Hazare Trophy with a century

He also praised Steve Smith for his game plan against Jadeja. He said that the Aussie captain did not try to play for the spin he instead played for the one that did not turn. And believes that was the trick to play on this pitch. Azhar believes that no one can play such innings by practicing for hours, it needs some on the spot game analysis.

“I believe this was one of the best Test hundreds scored on a bad pitch. This is not something Aussies are used to. Even if you do hours of match simulation, it’s very different while playing a Test match. Smith didn’t try and play for the turn. What he did was playing Jadeja’s incoming deliveries not thinking it would turn. That was the trick.” Azhar added.

The man who has 22 Test centuries to his name also opined that India should make some changes. He thinks that Ishant Sharma’s back of the length bowling does not work on Indian pitches and instead India should go for Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. He also believes that Karun Nair should be brought in place of Jayant Yadav.

“Going by their batting performance, I expect them to play an extra batsman — that is Karun Nair. He should be replacing Jayant in all likelihood. Also on the tracks that we are playing, Ishant’s back of the length stuff is not going to work. It is better that a swing bowler like Bhuvneshwar is brought into the team by Virat,” suggested Mohammad Azharuddin.