steve okeefe

Former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg on Sunday wished good luck to compatriot Steve O'Keefe, who has announced his retirement from first-class cricket.

Australia's Pune Test hero Steve O'Keefe in all likelihood will be dropped from the playing XI at expense of pacer Jackson Bird for the fourth Test match against India, starting Saturday.

India lost their last seven wickets for just 11 runs – their worst collapse in Test match. O’Keefe, playing only his fifth Test and his first in India claimed career-best 6 for 35 to help Australia take a 155-run lead over the hosts.

The four-Test series in India in 2017 began with an Australian win on the back of O'Keefe's bowling heroics in Pune. The New South Wales left-arm spinner finished with 12 wickets as Australia thrashed India by 333 runs. But despite Australia winning the first Test, India went on to clinch the series 2-1.

The just-retired Steve O'Keefe has rued that spinners are not allowed to win matches in Australian cricket, saying the country will struggle to dominate in the sub-continent until the issue is not addressed.

Cricket Australia's association with Sriram started in 2015, when he helped the 'A' team handle the conditions at Chepauk. After that, he has been part of the Australian set-up as a consultant in their sub-continent tours, helping the players deal with the mystery of spin.

Australia lost the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar series by an innings and 132 runs on a turning track, which prompted Cummins to go with just one quick and three spinners -- Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and debutant Matthew Kuhnemann -- in the second Test, which began in Delhi on Friday.

Former Australia bowling coach Craig McDermott, who had worked with Sriram during the World T20 in India, reserved special words for the 41-year-old former India and Tamil Nadu cricketer.

Former Australian spinner Steve O'Keefe has backed England's head coach Brendon McCullum to continue despite Ashes struggles. He highlighted McCullum's significant win rate improvement since taking charge, urging patience. However, O'Keefe stressed the need for tactical adaptation and better preparation, criticizing the current training-match imbalance. He believes the team must learn from this tour and adjust their approach.

Australia picked a second off-spinner in their playing eleven in the form of debutant Todd Murphy for the first Test against hosts India, which began in Nagpur on Thursday, and the move was praised by former Australia left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe.

Of the nine Australian wickets to fall on day one of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Pune, the eighth included a moment of brilliance from India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.

Swearing off alcohol and excluding himself from the BBL have proven excellent choices by the left-arm spinner, who ransacked India with 12 wickets in Pune.

Australian spinner Steve O'Keefe believes it would be a daunting task to tame Virat Kohli and his men in the upcoming Test series in India but insisted that they are not infallible and might find the going difficult on turning wickets.

Left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe, who effected Indian middle and lower-order collapse with a six-wicket haul on Friday, said that the host batsmen were unlucky to have nicked the ball and being caught.

Australia walloped a hapless India to register their first Test win here since 2004 and take 1-0 lead in the four-match series in Pune on Saturday. Chasing 441, India crashed to 107 all out to suffer a 333-run defeat – their first at home in 19 Tests.

At stumps, Steven Smith had completed a lucky half-century to take Australia to 143/4, thereby extending the overall lead to 298 runs on Day 2 of the Pune Test.

Here's a look at the major talking points from the second day's play of the first Test between India and Australia in Pune.

Mohammed Azharuddin was critical of the performance by the Indian spinners and feels that Aussie spinner Steve O'Keefe showed how to bowl on a turner after India lost the first Test by a whopping 333 runs.

Sridharan Sriram is the proverbial insider. If he were dealing in shares, he would have been charged with breaking a few laws, but luckily his forte is exchanging cricketing notes rather than stock information.

It was Sriram, as consultant, who played a pivotal role in guiding an inexperienced Australia A side led by Usman Khawaja to win over India A 1-0