Marnus Labuschagne concedes there are ghosts from Test matches past that might haunt Australia heading into a final-day showdown with India, but memories of their rivals’ record-breaking run chase at Brisbane four years ago are not among them.

After an absorbingly fluctuating fourth day of the second NRMA Insurance Test at the MCG, Australia are 9-228 holding an overall lead of 333 runs with a minimum 95 overs expected on tomorrow’s final day.

Labuschagne was unable to shed any light on whether his captain Pat Cummins will declare on that overnight total and begin the hunt for the 10 India wickets needed to claim a 2-1 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series with one match to play.

But he admitted that, come the start of their second innings on Sunday morning, the hosts had hoped to build a sufficiently sizeable lead to enable a declaration and then some overs at India’s top-order to exert pressure on the visitors.

That planned was ditched when India’s unstoppable bowling force Jasprit Bumrah tore the heart from Australia’s middle-order with 3-4 from three overs, and the revised strategy was simply to keep batting to reduce the tourists’ victory hopes.

“The way the wicket played and the way India bowled and came out and put us under pressure in that first 40 to 50 overs, (declaring) wasn’t an option for us,” Labuschagne said after top scoring with a priceless 70 in almost four hours’ batting.

“That became ‘let’s get as many runs as we can and that’s probably creeping into a nice total now.

“But there was a time there where it (overall lead) could have been 270, 250 or even less.”

Regardless of whether Cummins declares or sends Nathan Lyon (41no) and Scott Boland (10no) back to the middle to continue their unbroken last-wicket stand of 55, India will need the highest successful fourth-innings run chase at the MCG to snatch victory.

However, as Labuschagne noted, his team have recent experience of how deep India’s Test line-up bats and cited some painful examples as reason for erring on the side of conservatism when it comes to setting a target.

In the first innings of this match, India were 7-221 in reply to Australia’s first innings of 474, only to have allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy plunder his maiden Test century batting at number eight.

In the previous series played in India last year it was spin bowler Axar Patel batting at number nine who scored 84 and lifted his team to an innings win in the first Test at Nagpur before contributing 74 (at number eight) and 79 (at seven) in subsequent matches.

Then there was the memorable final game of the preceding campaign in Australia, where India mounted an unprecedented fourth innings total of 7-329 to claim the Trophy thanks to heroic knocks from lower-order new caps Washington Sundar (62 and 22) and Shardul Thakur (67).

“That wicket was flat,” Labuschagne recalled of that Gabba game of four years ago that Australia needed to win to wrest back the Trophy India have held since 2017.

“There were some cracks appearing there from memory, but the main part of the wicket was really nice.

“I remember it was like a day two wicket on day one, it was quite firm and the ball (offered) a little bit of bounce like you do get in Brisbane.

“And we were also in the position in that Test where we had to win the series, so we had to try and set a total and ideally we would have liked to set India more in that game and probably bowl a few less overs.

“But because we had to win, we had to risk it a little bit more.

“I’m not sure it plays on your mind because you’ve just got to play the game in front of you.

“But one thing I would say is India’s middle to lower-order have been very good.

“So we obviously want to make sure we have enough runs, but we also need to back ourselves and trust that we’re going to bowl India out.”

Labuschagne cited the increasingly variable bounce exhibited by the MCG pitch today as a reason why batting became so fraught in the face of another relentless onslaught from Bumrah who received timely back-up from fellow quick Mohammed Siraj (3-66).

That meant deliveries Australia’s batters could confidently let pass on days one and two suddenly posed a threat to the stumps, and the India seamers homed in on their rivals’ pads as some deliveries skidded through while others occasionally leaped from a length.

“That natural length they were bowling the first innings that was probably going over the stumps is now hitting the top of the stumps more,” Labuschagne said having top-scored for Australia across the match after his 72 in the first innings.

“But they got rid of third slip into a cover area and that allowed them to bowl a little bit fuller.

“For us, if we can hit the top of the stumps in that first 40 to 60 overs, I think that’s where the game’s going to be hanging in the balance.

“The seam movement’s probably been the same, but just the amount of bounce is significantly lower.

“So that makes for pretty tricky batting because more balls are hitting the stumps from a shorter length, balls are skidding through and a few balls shot up today.”

Reddy, who has proved a revelation in his maiden series and clearly represents one of those lower to middle-order batting threats Australia remains mindful of, claims his team’s top-order batters will have learned from their first-innings mistakes.

Apart from young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored 82 and was untroubled until needlessly run out in a miscommunication with Virat Kohli, no other member of India’s top seven reached 40.

But India also squandered a number of chances to reduce their hefty victory target, with Jaiswal dropping three catches today in addition to another miss by Siraj, a run out that went begging, an lbw review turned down and then Bumrah had Lyon caught at slip from what was deemed a no-ball in the day’s final over.

But even with 334 required should Australia not add to their current total – with the highest successful fourth-innings pursuit at the MCG being England’s 7-332 in the 1928-29 Ashes – Reddy believes India’s batting depth gives them hope heading into day five.

“If you ask me everyone is capable of playing on this pitch,” he said tonight.

“What we have done in the first innings, we will rectify the mistakes for the second innings. 

“We know a big total is there (to chase).

“I feel like we need to get one or two good partnerships. 

“From the first day, the movement was there, the pitch was doing something, we can see later on (by the) fourth day it was doing a bit more. 

“But we don’t need to put more pressure on (saying) the pitch is doing this or that. 

“We need to go instinctively according to the situation.”

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal