Bangladesh remain firmly in control of the first Test against Australia at Darwin after the third day’s play concluded on Saturday (August 15).
Despite Australia's precarious position, veteran pacer Josh Hazlewood—who was preferred in the playing XI over Scott Boland and delivered a fighting 6-wicket haul (6/89) in the first innings—maintained that a turnaround remains possible if their lower order successfully bats deep on Day 4.
To salvage a victory, the hosts must erase the remaining 67-run deficit, post a target that gives their elite bowling attack enough cushion, and secure 10 quick wickets on a wearing Darwin surface.
"Once we tick those [runs] off, hopefully we're still four down, and you can start to build the pressure," Hazlewood said after the end of Day 3, as quoted by Cricinfo.
He added, "I'm not sure how the wicket will play. Obviously we haven't played much in Test cricket [here]. It was showing a little bit of signs of up and down. If we can bat deep into tomorrow and potentially even the whole day, maybe there are always opportunities to take 10 wickets on the final day if the wicket is a little bit up and down. So [the] win is still definitely in our mind, and always is pretty much. So we'll look to do whatever we can to move towards that."
Having conceded a huge first-innings lead of 228 runs, Australia reached 161/4 in their second innings at stumps on Day 3, with all-rounder Cameron Green anchoring the innings on 43* accompanied by wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey on 19*. Major domestic standout Beau Webster is slated to bat next at number 7, followed by captain Pat Cummins.
Green holds the key for Australia as he fights to secure his spot in the team amid growing scrutiny. A narrow escape on 12 runs—where an inside edge hit his leg stump but failed to dislodge the bails—keeps his crucial innings alive.
"You definitely need luck in cricket, that's for sure," Hazlewood said on Green's lucky survival. "I think his intent has been good. He's looked to score from the outset. I thought even in the first innings, it was probably just summing up the situation more so in that time, just before whatever break it was.
"I think he's shown good intent from ball one in both innings. [He] looked to score, put the pressure back on the bowler. Yeah, a little bit of luck goes a long way sometimes. So you never know."
Meanwhile, Bangladesh all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz stated that the tourists are determined to keep the target low and register a famous win Down Under.
"We are playing on a good wicket, so all we want to do is bowl in the right areas," he said. "We have to work hard for each wicket. We had to do a lot to get those four wickets today. We are trying to give away as few runs as possible. If we can take at least three or four wickets within these [67] runs, then we won't have a difficult target coming up.
"We want to give them as few runs as possible. They have a lot of good batters remaining, so getting at least three more wickets is our priority. I don't want to predict the future, but we must own the first session on day four."
(With IANS Inputs)
