Steve O’Keefe’s six-wicket haul put Australia well ahead in the first Test, as the visitors took an imposing 298-run lead after bowling out India for a paltry 105 on Day 2 in Pune on Friday.

Chasing Australia’s first innings total of 260, India lost their way early on with opener Murali Vijay departing with the score on 26 off Josh Hazlewood. Mitchell Starc soon joined the party, first sending back in-form Cheteshwar Pujara and, two balls later, skipper Virat Kohli for zero, his first in a Test in India.

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KL Rahul was the lone batsman to offer any resistance, hitting a gritty 64. However, he was dismissed soon after spinner Steven O’Keefe was brought into the attack. O’Keefe smoothly ran through India’s lower order.

The hosts lost seven wickets for just 11 runs. O’Keefe scalped six of them in 24 balls as the famed India spin specialists were left stunned with his left-arm tweakers. He finished with figures of 6/35.

An inspired fielding performance by the visitors played a big part in helping the tourists rattle India. Peter Handscomb in particular was impressive with some sharp catches around the stumps.

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However, the same could not be said of India’s fielding as Australia came into bat for their second essay. India dropped four catches, with skipper Steve Smith getting as many as three reprieves. Smith remained unbeaten on 59 as Australia ended the day with 143/4 on the board.

Earlier, resuming on 256/9, Australia’s surge did not last long on the second day as R Ashwin managed to close the innings with just four more runs added to the overnight total.

The wily India spinner ended Mitchell Starc’s remarkable knock on 61. It was Ashwin’s 64th wicket of the home season, with which he surpassed Kapil Dev’s record of 63 wickets. He returned with three wickets in Australia’s second essay, but Australia rode on their first innings advantage to stretch their lead close to the 300-run mark by stumps.

Brief scores

  • Australia 260 (Mitchell Starc 61; R Ashwin 3/63) & 143/4 (Steve Smith 59*, Matt Renshaw 31; R Ashwin 3/68) vs India 105 (KL Rahul 64, Steve O’Keefe 6/35).