The left-arm spinner wasn't happy about how he bowled in the first session, and with so much expected out of the spinners on this turning track, the 32-year-old O'Keefe knew he had to change something
While the entire Australian team must have enjoyed a good lunch after taking three Indian wickets cheaply, Steve O'Keefe was out there in the middle again, bowling a few balls on the practice pitches with Australia's spin consultant Sridharan Sriram.
The left-arm spinner wasn't happy about how he bowled in the first session, and with so much expected out of the spinners on this turning track, the 32-year-old O'Keefe knew he had to change something.
So, he came out after lunch, changed his ends, bowled a lot slower and bowled a touch shorter. The result was six Indian wickets in a session that completely wiped them out.
"When I started to bowl my first six overs, I think I went probably back to my comfort zone, which is what I bowl in Australia," O'Keefe said after the day's play.
"I think it was just probably going a bit over the top and whenever I was trying to bowl quick, it was too full. It was ordinary bowling in the first six overs. I was working in the nets with some other variations, just changing the seam angle and arm angle," he added.
Playing in just his fifth Test, O'Keefe wasn't perceived as India's main threat, not certainly someone who could run through a batting line-up like India's. But the New South Wales bowler was up for the challenge, both in terms of the opposition and the turning pitch.
"It's always nice to see a spinning wicket. You don't get to see it too often back in Australia. But you know in seeing a wicket like that, there's going to be a lot of onus (on spinners) and you're going to have to carry a lot of workload. So, it's nice to see spinning conditions, but you know you have a job to do," he said.
O'Keefe worked with former England spinner Monty Panesar – who caused India many a problem in the 2012-13 season that England won – before leaving Australia, but credited Sriram more for getting the best out of him in these conditions.
"Monty has been excellent when I got to work with him. It was only two days, but he instilled a bit of belief in what I was doing. I think the biggest influence has been Sri. I've worked with him a couple of times before. He understands how to bowl in these conditions, how the batters are thinking. He has been the biggest help along with the other coaching staff," he said.
Any bowler with a six-wicket haul in his first Test in India is bound to be over the moon. But not O'Keefe.
"It hasn't really sunk it yet. I think it will if that contributes to a win," he said.
Did you know?
Steve O'Keefe's 6/35 on Friday is the second best by an Australian left-arm spinner in Tests against India behind 6/9 by Michael Clarke in Mumbai in November 2004. His is also the third best by a visiting left-arm spinner in Tests in India. England's Hedley Verity remains the only bowler to bag seven wickets – 7/49 in Chennai in February 1934
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Steve Smith is the 11th batsman from Australia to complete 1,000 runs or more vs India in Tests - his aggregate being 1016 runs at an average of 92.36, including four centuries and four fifties, in only seven Tests
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