India's seamers provide the blueprint for young Aussies

Wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy concedes she has been surprised with the consistency of India's pace attack throughout this multi-format series, adding they have provided a fine example for Australia's youthful quicks.

The tourists took four big wickets under lights on day three to snuff out any hope of an Australian victory in the one-off Test at Metricon Stadium, with the home side now looking to Ellyse Perry to lead them to safety on the final day.

Pace pair Jhulan Goswami (2-27) and Pooja Vastrakar (2-31) did the damage with the ball, bowling a fuller length and finding some seam movement that Healy felt the Australian quicks were not able to do.

"India with the (way they used the) seam showed us what we couldn't quite do with the new ball early in our innings," she said.

"We won the toss and we wanted to bowl and make a real impact, and we couldn't quite do that, I think with a little bit of inexperience around.

"They bowled beautifully under lights today – they've got a really great seam attack and they presented that seam and let the ball do the work for them.

"Their consistency has probably surprised me. Just the way that they've been able to come out and consistently bowl a really good line and length, and present the seam accordingly, has been really impressive.

"They've shown our really young and inexperienced attack just how to do it."

Perry (27no) has now scored 240 runs and faced 472 deliveries against the pink ball in Test cricket without being dismissed, and Healy said the ability of the superstar allrounder and her Sydney Sixers teammate Ashleigh Gardner (13no) to negotiate the all-important opening period on the final day would be crucial in ensuring they don’t lose the match.

"We'll come out tomorrow and try to work really hard in the first hour," she said. "They'll be trying to take early wickets so we'll look to get through that and see what position we're in.

"Tomorrow's a great opportunity for (Gardner) to bat alongside 'Pez' (Perry), who seems to be a pink-ball master out there with the bat.

"She can stand out there, learn a lot from Pez and just soak up the opportunity to play Test cricket.

"Pez is yet to be dismissed (in pink-ball Test cricket) so it's a good omen for us heading into tomorrow, and hopefully she bats for 108 overs."

Healy also hinted that a declaration from the Australians was a possibility should they entertain the idea of attempting to win the match, however a draw (and two points apiece) would still see them maintain their two-point lead in the series.

"To win the game from here is a really difficult task," she added. "I think we'd have to give them a bit of a lead and then try and back our bowlers to take wickets.

"To be fair we created enough opportunities with the ball so if that's the route that we do want to go down, then I back our bowlers to get it done.

"But the reality is, losing a whole day of a four-day Test, it's really difficult to get a result, and we wouldn't mind seeing a few of their bowlers out there for 108 overs tomorrow.

"So we'll have to wait and see how it pans out."

The first of three T20s starts on Thursday.

CommBank Series v India

Australia lead India 4-2 on points

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

India Test and ODI squad: Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur (vc), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wk), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh.

First ODI:Australia won by nine wickets

Sep 24: Australia won by five wickets

Sep 26: India won by two wickets

Sep 30 – Oct 3: Test match, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast (D/N)

Oct 7: First T20, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast

Oct 9: Second T20, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast

Oct 10: Third T20, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast