The wicket in Pune was a shocker, says ex-Aussie skipper Kim Hughes

The first Test between India and Australia ended on the third day, and the pitch at the MCA Stadium in Pune has come under a lot of criticism for breaking up and assisting spinners from the first session of the match. The ‘doctored wicket’ didn’t help India’s cause at all as the Australian spinning duo of Steve O'Keefe and Nathan Lyon shared 17 wickets between them to hand India their first Test defeat since August 2015. 

"The wicket (in Pune) was a shocker. If you see, pitches against England were good cricket wickets, but if you try to doctor the tracks, it can bite you on your bum. I am sure the one in Bengaluru will be a fantastic one," Hughes said to the Times of India. 

India couldn’t live up to their reputation of being a good fielding side in the first Test as they missed a lot of catches, which, Hughes feels, let the hosts down.

"India are a good fielding unit, but in this game, it was very poor. I believe catching is all about confidence and when they dropped so many, they lost it. You can't give a player of Smith's quality four chances. The last time he would have been given this many was when he was probably four years old.”

Virat Kohli's love affair with wrong DRS has continued for yet another match and Hughes feels, that was one of the reasons, India couldn't perform well. 

"India was done with their two reviews very early (in the second innings). The second referral - where the batsman ought to have known whether he hit it or not - was just bad cricket. You need to use your referrals smartly," Hughes pointed out.

Hughes also praised pacers of both the country and said, "While Steve O'Keefe was the man of the moment, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood too bowled splendidly for Australia. Starc's ball to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara was just brilliant. For India, Umesh (Yadav) was the standout bowler as he bowled a superb line and was disciplined,"

Before the current series began, Harbhajan Singh and many others had dismissed Australia’s chances of making any sort of impact. But the Aussies proved everyone wrong by putting up a splendid performance. But Hughes feels India just had a bad game.

"If someone had told me we are going to dismiss India for 100-odd in both innings and win by 333 runs, I would have told him - what have you been smoking? Australia will enjoy this victory but would understand that India would come hard at them. I don't think India were complacent at all. It's just that they had a bad game," Hughes said.