Smith looking to wear down tired Indians

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Cricket365
December 28, 2014

Australia captain Steve Smith continued his rich vein of form, as he struck a career best 192 to put his team in a strong position at the end of Day two of the third Test against India at the MCG.

After a relatively slow start, Smith looked comfortable at the crease as he and the Aussie tail-enders piled on the runs in the middle session.

By the end of Australia's innings of 530 all out, the tourists bowlers looked completely weary as all four frontline bowlers went for more than 100 runs. Smith spoke to reporters about the tired-looking bowling attack after the day's play.

He said: "They've only got three quicks in their attack and a spinner, so I think the longer we can keep them out there, the more overs they have to bowl, the more tired they get, and the more scoring opportunities you have.

"That was our plan – to try and keep them out there for as long as possible and know that if we had periods where we didn't score too many runs that we'd be able to catch them up later on.

"I started pretty slow yesterday, I was 2 from 30 balls I think from memory. I think it was just about being patient and letting the bowlers keep coming back and keep coming back and getting tired.

"I think we were able to do that and reap rewards late in the day yesterday and today as well."

Smith played some extravagant shots while he was batting with the tail, as the tea interval approached, until his innings came to an end when he was bowled by Umesh Yadav.

"He said: "I was going to declare at tea, so I was trying to get as many runs as we could before then. I think 530 is a nice total for us. It was pretty fun to be honest. Batting in general is always fun though.

"It was nice to be able to play a few shots at the end and try to get the total up as high as we could. It was good fun."