India's Harbhajan Singh takes part in a team training session ahead of the second Twenty20 cricket match between Australia and India in Melbourne on January 28, 2016. AFP PHOTO / MEL FAIRCLOUGH -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE / AFP / MAL FAIRCLOUGH (Photo credit should read MAL FAIRCLOUGH/AFP/Getty Images)
Former India Test spinner Harbhajan Singh has played down the achievements of Steve O'Keefe in the first Test in Pune, saying the pitch was the reason for India's downfall.
O'Keefe finished with figures of 12-70 across India's two innings, receiving the Man-of-the-Match award and setting the record for the best figures of any Australian bowler on foreign soil.
Despite the achievement, Singh said he wants to see O'Keefe play on a good wicket before praising him.
“I will have to see him bowl on a good Test match wicket. Not this one. Till then, I will reserve my comments,” he said.
“To be honest, that wasn’t a pitch. Test cricket should last five days. You cannot play on such wickets where anyone runs in to bowl and takes wickets.
"I have played in over 100 Tests, and I know how hard I had to work to earn every single wicket.”
Singh said the wicket prepared in the Maharashtra Stadium was nothing short of a disaster.
“When you prepare such a wicket, you are making conditions favourable for the opposition as well. That’s what happened in Pune. When I say a good Test wicket, I mean a strip where the ball does not shoot up from the first day itself,” he said.
“You don’t need to flight the ball or anything. You just need to bowl fast and not give the batsmen room to either come down the track, or be able to manoeuvre the ball around. Bowling six deliveries in the same spot is all you need to get wickets on such tracks.”