Australia, India both confident of winning

Australia coach Tim Nielsen admitted his team needed to produce something special to get the 413 runs needed for victory but it was not impossible.

Nielsen said the Australians still had two days left but the most encouraging sign was that the WACA pitch was holding up well and favouring the batsmen.

"It's an achievable result for us," Nielsen told a news conference on Friday.

"We feel as though we've got the quality of batsmen and pretty good conditions on our side that it'll make it very difficult for India unless they're on their game."

A victory for Australia would allow Ponting's men to set a new world record of 17 consecutive Test wins but history is stacked against them.

Only one side in 131 years of Test cricket have scored more than 413 runs in the fourth innings to win a Test and Australia will need to produce a dramatic improvement on their first innings when they were skittled out for just 212.

Australian's chances were further reduced when they lost two early wickets before the close but Nielsen said they were encouraged by the fact they managed to rack up 65 runs in quick fashion with Ponting and Mike Hussey still at the crease.

"Ricky and Mike will be vital in that regard to set it up for us. The good thing is the wicket's still in pretty good shape, the outfield's fast and we've seen that of batsmen get in they find it easier to score," Nielsen said.

'POSITIVE MOOD'

"We need a couple of guys to get big hundreds tomorrow and really set the platform for the group. We knocked a few runs off the total tonight and that showed that if you get in it's still a pretty good wicket. There's still a positive mood around the rooms tonight."

India led Australia by 118 on the first innings but were in danger of settling for a much smaller overall lead when they slumped to 160-6 in their second innings.

However, VVVS Laxman, who has a knack of making big scores against the Australians, kept the runs ticking along with a patient 79 and sharing two vital partnerships with wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rudra Pratap Singh to take the total up to 294.

"They were very important partnerships because it got the momentum back to us," Laxman said.

"But more than an individual innings, if we can win tomorrow I think it will be a great moment for all of us. Instead of thinking about the result, I'm sure all the boys will be thinking about the process and doing the right things tomorrow."

Laxman agreed with Nielsen that the WACA pitch was still good for batting on but believes the Australians will find it too difficult to chase down the 348 more required runs.

"I think they will be under a lot of pressure tomorrow getting 350 runs in the fourth innings," Laxman said.