🏏Australia vs India, 1st Test: Perth Stadium, Day 4, Nov 22-Nov 26.🏏 - Page 32

Face bouncers like taking bullets for your country' - Nitish reveals Gambhir's message before debut.

"That really helped me a lot, like that just boosted me up. I had that on the back of my mind. About that Perth wicket, everyone was talking like there will be good bounce in this wicket but when he said that thing to me, I felt like you need to take bullets for your country. That's the best thing I have heard from Gautam sir."

Nitish also expertly negotiated Nathan Lyon during his innings of 41 off 59 balls, hitting four boundaries against the veteran offspinner at a venue where he flourished and outbowled the tall-fast Australian pacers. Two of Nitish's boundaries were pristine cover drives and the remaining two reverse-sweeps off the middle of the bat.

Raghu: "What was Marnus trying to do yesterday? The late great Shane Warne always said the better the bowling, the harder the pitch to bat on, the more positive you need to be as a batter. Surely it was a matter of time before he got one with his name on it?" He was trying to survive! But, yeah, he batted himself into a bit of a hole. I wonder if he was so conscious of not chasing balls outside off, something he spoke about before the series.

Alex has an update on the pitch. There's a suggestion of a few divots already forming. If it starts going up and down as well as sideways, well, good luck!

The Aussies are 83 adrift now but don't write them off yet. Starc was still optimistic about getting close to the Indian total. There were two key takeaways from the pressers of Starc and Nitish Reddy. When asked if he felt the wicket would settle down Starc pounced to say "No," with a smile even before the question was finished. He then explained that there are cracks underneath so he doesn't expect the pitch to get better for batting.

I am going to watch vistaar se today.

Originally posted by: SoniRita

The Aussies are 83 adrift now but don't write them off yet. Starc was still optimistic about getting close to the Indian total. There were two key takeaways from the pressers of Starc and Nitish Reddy. When asked if he felt the wicket would settle down Starc pounced to say "No," with a smile even before the question was finished. He then explained that there are cracks underneath so he doesn't expect the pitch to get better for batting.

Originally posted by: SoniRita

Meanwhile, Nitish revealed that all India discussed in the innings break was about not trying too hard or looking to swing too much as there is enough lateral help available. The chat was to just let the pitch do its bit and keep the disciplines right. So from the words of the players it is clear that batting won't be all that easy going forward as well. But if Australia do manage a counterattacking stand and draw close they could tilt the balance as well.

Saif: "We really need to give KL Rahul some credit for batting well. It was not easy to stick around first 10 overs but he did well. I hope KL gets recognized this time."

Ash: "while India are in a good position, they have been here before and lost control. Carey is key."

razor: "I didn't mind Marnus' tactics; he tried something similar in the fifth ashes test last year. Is it harsh of me to say he missed a half volley hitting leg?"