Ready for a close encounter of the third kind?

Brisbane: In boxing, it usually takes a round or two to figure your opponent out — only after that does the bout truly begins. “I think a couple of key moments can really compound matters and make the game look further apart than perhaps they were,” said Australia skipper Pat Cummins on Friday. “That’s the beauty of playing a long series and playing a Test series, there might be a scenario where a bowler might be getting you out 3 or 4 times in the series, and to be able to play the same bowler again in the next Test match, you know certain areas where you are a little vulnerable or where you can get out as a batsman, but I think that’s the fun about playing a long series, playing a long Test series,” said India’s No.3 Shubman Gill on the eve of the third Test. “Their Test side, I think, for the past 5-6 years hasn’t changed much, but they also know what are the areas that we are going to target, so I think even before coming here, both teams knew what would be the challenges, and like I said that’s the fun part about being able to play a good long series because there is more than the skill, there is a lot more mental tactics involved here.” The mental tactics Gill is referring to are why we saw Virat Kohli trying to get into the mode where he could attain the discipline to leave the ball around the 4th and 5th stump line. The Aussies, already hurt after losing their last two series against India at home, are hurting and Cummins would like to do nothing more than get things back on track here.