Related items

• Australia have 'serious work to do' against India, McSweeney concedes

  Nathan McSweeney conceded Australia have "serious work to do" if they are to get back into the first Test against India.

  The Baggy Greens trail by 218 runs heading into day three in Perth after an unbroken century partnership of Yashasvi Jaiswal (90) and KL Rahul (62) put the tourists well in control at 172-0 at stumps.

  Though they resumed at 67-7, Australia could only add another 37 runs and were bowled out for 104.

  McSweeney acknowledged the hosts must improve, and quickly.

  "It definitely hasn't gone to plan in the past couple of days," he told ABC. "We've got some serious work to do to get back into this Test. It looks like it is getting easier to bat, so hopefully we get early wickets tomorrow and get batting.

  "It is definitely a new-ball wicket. All the damage was done before we could get through to the 35-40-over mark with the bat, so the trick will be nullifying the new ball and having batters in for the 40-80-over mark."

  Former Australia head coach Darren Lehmann added: "It was a tough day, but hats off to the two Indian batters. They were excellent today and weathered the storm, and they got to the stage where they could take the game on.

  "India are well ahead of the game. The wicket has settled down a little bit, but that is more because the Australia bowlers were tired from the first innings and having to bat two hours today."

• Kidd hails Mavs' character after road win over Nuggets

  Jason Kidd hailed the character of his Dallas Mavericks team after their gutsy win over the Denver Nuggets.

  The Mavericks overcame Luka Doncic's absence, and a triple-double from returning Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, to win 123-120 in Friday's NBA Cup game.

  It also marked the third consecutive game the Mavericks have had seven players hit double figures. 

  The Mavericks appeared to be running away with a dominant win after leading by as many as 24 points early in the third quarter, only for the Nuggets to swiftly respond. 

  They struck a fierce 28-9 run in an eight-minute span to bring the game within single digits going into the final quarter, but the Mavericks held on for a fourth straight win.

  "We were here 10 days ago, we learned from that situation, we kept our composure. This group stayed together," Kidd said.  

  "On the defensive end we made stops and on the offensive end we made some big plays.

  "We didn't finish the game 10 days ago. But the guys stepped up. Defensively, we did what we had to do. A lot of small things that we cleaned up from the last time we were here.

  "This is a character game for us. Again without Luka, on the road, we were just in this situation in Oklahoma City. The games are too close for us to make mistakes late.

  "This team has a lot of character, a lot of trust and we're becoming a team - it's still early in the season, we've had some injuries, but it's about the next man up and those guys are stepping up."

  Dallas (9-7) improved to 2-1 in West Group C to keep their hopes of being one of eight teams to advance to the knockout round. The Mavericks trail the Golden State Warriors, who improved to 3-0 in Group Play after Friday’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

  It was also a night to remember for Naji Marshall, who scored a career-high 26 points off the bench. 

  After scoring 15 points in the second half of Tuesday’s game against the Pelicans, Marshall scored 16 points in the first half on Friday.

  Marshall had only two 15-point halves in his career prior to accomplishing the feat in consecutive halves, with Kidd showering praise for his recent displays. 

  "Just the trust. Marshall was playing extremely well for us. With the game on the line, he makes a floater with one second left on the shot clock," Kidd said. 

  "The confidence the guys have in him on the offensive end and defensive end [helps]."

• 76ers confirm Embiid sidelined with knee injury

  The Philadelphia 76ers revealed Joel Embiid missed their victory over the Brooklyn Nets with a knee injury, while the star centre will also be absent from this Sunday's clash with the Los Angeles Clippers.

  Philadelphia ended a five-game losing streak with a 113-98 win at Wells Fargo Center, but did so without the services of Embiid.

  The centre was not initially listed on the franchise's injury report ahead of the game, but was later added for left knee injury management, having been ruled out 30 minutes before tip-off.

  "He was dealing with some swelling in his knee today, got to the arena and was ruled out," 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. "They're going to treat it all weekend, so he'll be out for Sunday as well.

  "He had some swelling from the last game. It's something we knew we were going to be dealing with going into the season. They do what they can do to remove that swelling, but it just didn't feel good enough to go.

  "We were pretty well aware of that not too much longer after [my pre-match] press conference that he wasn't going to be able to go tonight.

  "Then, they obviously looked at it again during the game and half-time, and decided that they needed to treat it this weekend, and go from there.

  "Hopefully, on Monday, we'll give you an update on where we're at and, hopefully, he'll be in good shape."

  In Embiid's absence, rookie guard Jared McCain stepped up to produce another impressive performance with 30 points, passing the 20-mark for a seventh successive game.

  The 20-year-old was heard saying "I'm rookie of the year!" after shooting one of his six three-pointers during the final quarter.

  "I did say that," he said after the game. "It was pretty clear. It's one of my goals for the season, obviously, but it was just that competitiveness coming out of me.

  "I respect every other rookie in this league, but obviously, I'm a believer in myself."