IND v AUS 2020: Any score will be challenging to chase against India's quality bowling - Tim Paine
Australian captain Tim Paine played an exceptional innings on Friday to lift his team from a precarious 79-5 to a respectable total of 191. In his knock of 73 runs, Tim Paine looked the most fluent batsmen from both sides. He counter-attacked India's bowlers with finesse and scored 10 fours against them.
Australia conceded a lead of 62 runs at the end of Day 2 and will look to capitalize on the new ball tomorrow. They will have to bat the arduous 4th innings against the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah, who will have their tails up after Friday's staging.
While Bumrah (2-52) sent both the openers packing, Ashwin cleaned up Australia's middle order with his spell of 4-55. Umesh Yadav also chipped in with three wickets to conclude an impressive performance by Team India.
When asked about a safe total to chase, Tim Paine was non-commital but said any total would be challenging against India's 'exceptional' bowling lineup.
"I don't want to put a number on it because, at the end of the day, we have got to chase what we have to. If it's a big score or a little score, we know it's going to be a challenge. The quality of the Indian bowling is exceptional," Tim Paine said at the post-match press conference.
We know how good our fast bowling attack and Nathan Lyon are: Tim Paine
Tim Paine acknowledged the quality of the pace bowler in both teams and also commended his teammate, off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
"Anything can happen tomorrow we know how good our fast bowling attack and Nathan Lyon are. We thought, in his first 10 overs yesterday, he created a number of chances and just didn't quite get ahead. So both attacks have got the ability to take quick wickets," Paine added.
"Obviously, we are going to try and do that tomorrow. The main thing is to keep building pressure and keeping the scoreboard under control. Hopefully, one of our great bowlers gets a bit of a run-on and some momentum... and, hopefully, we will keep that score as low as possible," Tim Paine concluded.
Josh Hazelwood, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Lyon have the ability to put in important performances against Virat Kohli and co. In a similar situation during the first Test in 2018, Lyon seized the moment and took 6 wickets but couldn't stop India from making 307 runs.
All eyes will be on Mayank Agarwal and Jasprit Bumrah when Day 3's proceedings kick off at 9:30 am on Saturday.