Two changes Steve O'Keefe made that contributed to his success in Pune

Prior to the opening Test between India and Australia in Pune, left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe was not considered a potential threat. Already 32 O’Keefe took the Test series against India as his last chance to prove his credentials in the longest format of the game. His selection in the Playing XI for the opening Test in Pune was severely criticised by arguably the greatest spinner if all time Shane Warne. Prior to the Pune Test, O’Keefe had only taken 14 wickets in 4 Tests.

When Australia toured Sri Lanka in July-August, the left-arm spinner was considered as a potential threat but he sustained an injury and was ruled out of the last two Tests. Australia was eventually whitewashed 3-0. Injuries have been a part of O’Keefe’s brief career as he was also injured during the Test series against Pakistan in 2014 and it looked like his career was over.

However, after his exceptional spells in both innings of the Pune Test, he has surely revived his career and will be a lethal weapon for the visitors going into the final 3 Tests of the series. In both innings, he picked up 635 to finish with exceptional match figures of 12/70. It was also the best bowling performance by an overseas spinner in Indian conditions.

During an interaction with ABC Grandstand following their comprehensive win, O’Keefe stated that the two most important things which led to his success in Pune were pulling out of the Big Bash League for the Sydney Sixers and staying off from alcohol totally.

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“Missing out on the Big Bash was a big deal. It was something I wanted to do but I knew coming into a series like this, with the weather, conditions and workload, I had to make sure my body was 100 percent ready to go because I couldn’t let the team down again. If I did that, I knew it would be an absolute line through my name. So it meant sacrificing something at home that I wanted to play, but as it turned out it’s a 1-0 start so I feel like that’s sort of vindicated itself,” O’Keefe was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

His decision to lay off from alcohol totally was a big move from O’Keefe who was involved in a drunken incident during the tour of Sri Lanka in a Manly night club and was fined AUD 10,000. “I blew the chance in Sri Lanka and didn’t do myself any favours when I got home; I carried on like a pork chop. It was the wake-up call I needed. I swore off alcohol for the summer and left nothing to chance in order to prepare for India,” O’Keefe said.

O’Keefe also added that it was necessary to stay away from white ball cricket in order to prepare for the longest format of the game. “I know now in my body that I’ve been able to have success because I’ve sacrificed some white-ball cricket to be able to play a lot of red-ball cricket,” the left-arm spinner concluded. The 2nd Test begins from 4th March at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and O’Keefe will be looking to replicate his performance from the opening Test.