Ponting happy with effort
14 October, 2008

Australia captain Ricky Ponting insisted he was happy with way his team had performed in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series against India.

Australia set India a target of 299 on the final day on Monday and four early wickets gave it real hope of victory.

India though, having abandoned its pursuit of victory after that poor start, dug in to claim the draw, finishing with 4-177 in its second innings when play was called off.

"It was a pretty good game of Test cricket actually. I was very excited by the end of day's play last night," Ponting said.

"I thought we had a real good contest on our hands today. We started the day really positively and aggressively and we got a few extra runs we thought we had needed."

"Then we gave it our best shot with the ball, but we just didn't create enough opportunities today."

"We needed to take a couple of wickets with the new ball, we got that and then Sachin [Tendulkar] and [VVS] Laxman got together and we just couldn't break that partnership."

"We played good cricket, there's no doubt about that. We dominated this Test match pretty much from the second or third over on the first day."

"We've had our nose in front of the game and unfortunately we have not been quite good enough to win it. But it's a really good start to the series for us."

India had slipped to 7-232 in reply to Australia's first innings total of 430, but a partnership of 80 runs between Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh for the eighth wicket dented Australia's chances of victory.

Ponting admitted this partnership was the turning point in the game.

"In the course of this game, that's been one of the big turning points. Up until the moment we were a long way ahead in the game," he said.

"Then Harbhajan and Zaheer got that partnership going and we just couldn't break it."

"The lower order put on runs and our lead went from being around 180-200 to 70 as it was."

"So, there's no doubt they took a bit of momentum from those partnerships. We summed things up in the second innings and got ourselves into a winning position, but unfortunately we didn't create enough chances."

Cameron White picked up the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar on his debut, but Ponting felt his team had missed the services of an experienced spinner.

"I thought Cameron White did an exceptional job today. I thought he bowled very well. It's a positive sign for us," Ponting said.

"But yes, a quality spinner might have made things a little different today."

"We've got a couple of days to recover from this game now and hope to play hard cricket in Mohali as well."

India captain Anil Kumble revealed the team had decided not to chase its victory target after losing early wickets.

"If we had got a good start we would have gone after the target," he said. "We knew that we would exert pressure if we had gotten a good start."

"But that didn't happen. We lost two early wickets and that put us back."

"If [Virender] Sehwag and [Gautam] Gambhir had given us a start as they did in the first innings then we would have certainly gone after the target."

Kumble, who went wicketless in both innings, was critical of his own performance, but said he hoped to be fitter and bowl better in the second Test in Mohali.

"The shoulder is feeling better," he added. "We have got three more days before the next Test match so we will monitor it closely."

"It would have been nice if I had picked up wickets - we would probably have won the match."

"I guess I didn't put my hand up, but the other team members have certainly played their part."

"As captain I have played my part, but as a player if I come into the Tests we could probably win the series. That's what I would be looking forward to, coming in as a player and playing my part."

Despite being less than satisfied with his own display with the ball, Kumble claimed he was happy with the team's display.

"We would have loved to have won the game," he said.


"But the way things were, losing the toss on a pitch which certainly cracked up as the game progressed, I thought we fought back really hard thanks to Zaheer and Harbhajan's partnership in the first innings and crucial knocks from the top of the order."

"I think overall, for the first match of the series, I'm satisfied."

Kumble felt the onus had been on the Australians to force the issue.

"They had to make a game out of it," he said.

"We were in with a chance until yesterday when [Shane] Watson and [Brad] Haddin were in there."

"If we had got a wicket there it would have been different as we were looking to finish things off and win the game."

"But we were unable to break that partnership."