Australia leg-spinner Steve O'Keefe, who is arguably considered as one of the best finger-spinners in the world cricket, said playing in the four-match Test series in India three years ago gave him “a new perspective on the game and look at the game through a different lens”.
The experienced orthodox spin bowler has recently called time on his first-class career with 301 wickets at 24.66 after New South Wales decided not to offer him a contract for next summer.
However, the 35-year-old will continue to play for the Sydney Sixers in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL) and Manly-Warringah in Sydney grade cricket.
Australia’s 2017 Test tour of India was a memorable one for O'Keefe, as the leg-spinner enjoyed the moment of his career in the opening match of the four-Test series by taking 12 for 70 to give the hosts a famous victory of 333 runs at Pune against Virat Kohli and his team.
His match figures of 12/70 were the second-best bowling by a visiting bowler in a Test in India while the best match figures by any Australian left-arm spinner in the format.
O’Keefe told cricket.com.au: “Being able to play those four Tests in India gave me a new perspective on the game, to play four matches back-to-back and look at the game through a different lens. Test cricket’s not necessarily about playing well once, it’s about doing it consistently over three or four games.”
Steve, who played nine Tests for Australia between 2014 and 2017 and took 35 wickets, admitted that he didn’t get better as Indian batters played him well and won the series 2-1.
He added: “I’m being honest about that Test series against India, I didn’t get better as the series went on they (India’s batters) evolved and got better at facing me, and I think that was the true challenge,”
O’Keefe signed off by saying, “It gave me the insight to go ‘you have to be better than what you were if you want to win series against those guys,”
(With cricket.com.au Inputs)
