Ian Healy has outlined how he hopes Day 2 against India in Indore will play out for the Australians.
After dominating on Day 1 to bowl India out for 109 before replying with 4/156 of their own runs by stumps, Australia are in a commanding position.
Taking into account the difficulty of the turning pitch at Holkar Stadium, Healy first hopes that not out pair Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green establish themselves at the wicket.
“Handscomb and Green establish themselves first up,” Healy told SENQ Breakfast.
“Maybe they bat for at least an hour and get through the hard yards.
“Then I think we’re in a much better frame of mind to make the most of an hour partnership, so they could probably go on.”
If Handscomb and Green make it through the difficult opening period, Healy is hoping for some lower order runs from the likes of Mitchell Starc and Alex Carey, with the opening bowler potentially hitting some boundaries before losing his wicket.
“You can’t go from 1000 wickets to losing one in the first session, but they need to get a partnership going, stumble your way to Lunch and then bat as long as you can,” Healy explained.
“Australia need ‘Starcy’ (Mitchell Starc) to hit out at the end, I think (Todd) Murphy is a better bat than he’s shown just yet – so he could probably hang out with a Starc, (Alex) Carey or Green might still be in there.
“Those tailenders need to hang in better and will and then to have them three-down tonight (would be ideal).”
In Healy’s ideal situation, he hopes the visitors slow down the fall of wickets and consolidate their position.
Admitting that his scenario may be unlikely, Healy at the least hopes that once Australia are out that they can take early Indian wickets without conceding too much of a deficit before the fourth innings.
“I’ve slowed that day down compared to yesterday, so it might be realistic,” Healy said.
“We might have five (wickets) down and 80 (runs) behind at stumps tonight.”
Day 2 begins at 3:00pm (AEDT), listen to every ball LIVE on the SEN app, download for Apple and Android.*