Australia trail by just 75 runs after the opening day's play with seven first innings wickets remaining after dismissing India for 191 on Tuesday in the 100th test at the iconic Sydney venue.
Captain Michael Clarke (47no) and predecessor Ricky Ponting (44no) have added an unbeaten 79 for the fourth wicket, guiding Australia from a precarious 3-37 to be 3-116 overnight.
And fast bowler James Pattinson, who took 4-43 including the prize scalps of Virender Sehwag (30), VVS Laxman (2) and Sachin Tendulkar (41) in India's innings, is hoping Clarke and Ponting can carry on with their form on day two.
"Every time we go out we want to try and get them out for as low a score as possible," Pattinson said.
"191 just shows how well we did bowl. We're in a great spot at the moment, the bowling attack, and hopefully tomorrow the batsmen can dig in and get a bit of a lead on them."
Ponting will also be keen to make the most of his good start to push on and reach a test century for the first time in nearly two years.
The 37-year-old has history on his side, having scored 1390 runs at the venue in 16 tests at 66.19 with five hundreds.
