‘It was ridiculously hot’, Handscomb re-lives Chittagong

Australia cricketer Peter Handscomb has revealed the details of his gutsy knock at Chittagong where he felt 'nailed heat-wise from both the ground and the sky'.

Handscomb said that he was determined to beat the heat while batting out there and had the Australia vice-captain giving him words of encouragement.

On the second day of the second Test, Handscomb came in six overs prior to tea with Australia at 98 for two. He and David Warner added 127 vital runs before stumps but lost plenty of fluid in the process.

"We had a couple of sentences that we'd say to each other between overs to make sure we were switching on and focusing on each ball that was coming down," Handscomb said.

"It was just basically 'keep going'.

"Then if one of us played a poor shot or wasn't quite on for a certain ball we'd walk down and again repeat those sentences just to make sure it wasn't going to be the weather that was going to get us out; we had to make sure it was going to be a good ball."

At one point Handscomb just could not cope with the fluid he was losing through sweat and sat down on the turf, his face pale as a ghost as the afternoon sun simmered down on Chittagong.

Handscomb scored a magnificent 82 in the sweltering Chittagong heat and looked to take the game away from Bangladesh before he was eventually run out  after a sharp piece of work from Shakib Al Hasan.

"I was just getting nailed heat-wise from both the ground and the sky and couldn't get enough fluids in to make myself feel better, and then if I drunk a little bit too much I started to feel sick," Handcomb told cricket.au.com.

"We fielded first in both games, so already you're pretty cooked going into your first batting innings.

"Just standing out there in that heat, that sun – it takes it out of you.

Handcomb also revealed that somehow the heat made him focus harder.

It was a weird one, because as it was all going on and I was struggling in between balls, it really made me focus on every ball that was coming down," he said.

"Almost focus harder (than usual) because there was this drive to be like 'don't let the heat get me out, it's got to be a good ball to get me out'.

Handscomb however says that his run-out was his own fault. While Shakib showed immaculate sharpness to get a direct hit in, Handscomb's desperate dive did not save him.

Too eager for a single that would have seen Warner, then on 99 reach his century, Handscomb was off as soon as Warner tucked the ball to the leg side.

"Yeah, just backing up too far, completely my fault," he said.

"It was one of those things, obviously you want to get your mate to a hundred but in the grand scheme of things it's one run.