mid-day finds former Australia left-arm spinner Ray Bright in India and gets the 1986 Tied Test hero to talk about his country’s fine show in Pune as well as India’s possible revival in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series
Ray Bright bowls to Arjuna Ranatunga in a festival match to celebrate the 1986 Tied Test at Chateau Tanunda Oval, South Australia in 2007
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The name of Ray Bright cropped up during the recent India vs Australia Test at Pune when Steve O'Keefe rattled Virat Kohli's stumps on the final day of the 'three-day' Test. It was O'Keefe's eighth wicket in the Test to top the performance list of Australia's left-arm spinners in India. The previous best was Bright's 7 for 182 in the 1986 Chennai Tied Test.
Bright (62) was at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune to witness Australia's splendid start to the Test series after being written off. He is part of Premium Sport Tours and will be at the Bangalore Test as well, but not before visiting Kochi.
Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin
India will bounce back
While he savours the scintillating performance by his countrymen, Bright is confident India will get back at the Aussies in emphatic fashion. "India is a very proud cricketing nation led by Kohli and I expect them to bounce back in a big way. The Bangalore Test will be a very hard-fought match and it will be very interesting to see what kind of wicket they serve up. India will play a hell of a lot better than they did in Pune," Bright told mid-day earlier this week.
He felt Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja didn't bowl badly in Pune. "On another day, Ashwin and Jadeja would have bowled Australia out for a lot less," said Bright. His optimism had been raised when Australia ended up with 260 in their first innings. "I thought 260 was a competitive score because the wicket was not going to get any better, it was only going to deteriorate."
Knowing well what it takes to perform in India, Bright was overwhelmed by O'Keefe's 12-wicket effort. "He probably exceeded his own expectations, but he bowled very well. O'Keefe bowled very consistently and with his slight round-arm action, he was well-suited for that wicket with some balls spinning and some not," said Bright.
Sympathy for Matt
The sight of opening batsman Matt Renshaw returning to the pavilion for a toilet break on Day One reminded him of his situation in the Chennai Test of 1986. Bright was battling food poisoning throughout the Test and at one stage on Day Five had to return to the pavilion because he was dehydrated and disoriented. He came back in the final session and claimed the wickets of Chetan Sharma, Kiran More and Shivlal Yadav to put Australia back in the game. He bowled Yadav around his legs when India were just four runs away from victory. Earlier, Bright had dismissed Gavaskar caught by Dean Jones in the covers for 90.
"My heart went out to Renshaw. I had been in that situation but not often does a batsman leave the field," he said.
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