Sydney, Jan 6: Australia were 354 runs ahead at the end of Day 3 of the SCG Test with India already having lost two wickets in their second innings. Before play started on Day 4, Australian pace bowler Peter Siddle briefly spoke to the broadcast channel about the hosts’ strategy for the next two days.

Excerpts:

On whether the plan was to hit the deck hard

Well, that’s obviously the plan. It’s obviously a nice day; I hope the rain will stay away. We get to bowl in good conditions, perfect conditions at the moment. We have to make sure that we keep bowling positively and attacking.

On ensuring against thinking too far ahead with eight wickets to be claimed and Sachin Tendulkar still at the crease

I think we’ve just got to take it wicket by wicket. The last hour [on Day 3] did show that if we could build the pressure, then the chances come and the loose shots come. So that’s all we have to do; [there was just] one run or a couple of runs scored off the bat in the last hour so it showed that the pressure did build up on them and the scoring slowed down.

On whether he felt Tendulkar’s was the crucial wicket

It doesn’t matter which wicket we get. Any wicket we have, we have to get ten, and if he is not out at the end of the day at the other end and we have taken all ten wickets, I don’t think it matters. It’s a matter of working hard to get what we want. [We have to] get one wicket at a time and hopefully we get the wickets as quick as we can and if not, keep building the pressure and stick it out.

On the wicket

It’s still a nice wicket. It has flattened out a lot but I think that showed. Ishant [Sharma] bowled some tight spells in the end, good line and length. And when we did that yesterday we did build the pressure on them. So we’ll keep building that pressure, keep the runs down and when that happens, chances will come.