Australia finds themselves perilously close to losing the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series 3-1 to India after they were made to follow-on in the fourth Test at SCG. Australia still trails India by 316 runs.
Australia was bowled out for 300 in their first innings, with Kuldeep Yadav picking 5/99 and ended day four on 6/0 in their second innings, with rain gods helping them out with only 25.2 overs being possible in the day.
However, Australian batsman Peter Handscomb felt positive and said that Australia will look to draw the match.
"We will be coming out tomorrow and drawing this game, and then we will assess where we need to improve and get together as a team. We know that as a batting group we can take some confidence out of tomorrow if we can last the day, showing the country and the world that we are not far off from clicking as a really good team," said Handscomb.
Handscomb praised Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav for troubling the Australian batting line up.
"Obviously both are world class bowlers in their own right. Bumrah coming in can crank it up to 150 km/h and is always pretty tough with his accuracy. He has not missed his mark too much and has been able to swing it both ways, which is quite impressive with that action, and also adds to the fact how hard he is to pick," he said about Jasprit Bumrah.
He further praised Kuldeep, "Kuldeep has obviously been very impressive as well. He was very accurate and hard to get on top of. With the pace that he bowled, it was hard to get down to the wicket and force through the field. He was accurate and used the footmarks well, giving it a good spin."
The Australian batting has looked significantly weak without David Warner and Steve Smith, with no batsman being able to score a hundred in the series and was made to follow-on for the first time since 2005 and first time at home since 1988.
Handscomb said, "Obviously it hurts, you never want to follow on in any Test match for obvious reasons. It is huge for us to push for the draw and we have got a really good chance to shift some momentum back into our camp. Not just for the ODIs coming up but also there's a World Cup and the Ashes. So this movement can really start tomorrow.”
"It will be really nice if someone scores a hundred because we have not scored one this series which is obviously a big thing. Someone can come out tomorrow and score a hundred that would be great, or face 200 or 300 balls in a Test-saving knock. It will also give a lot of confidence going forward," he signed off.
(with PTI inputs)
