Mohali: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Australian captain Ricky Ponting, have hailed the Mohali Test match as one of the finest they have played in their careers.

“It's one of the most exciting Test matches I've played in. I've played nearly 150 now and that's right up there at the top of the list,” remarked Ponting, despite being disappointed at losing.

Dhoni too confirmed that it ranks among the best. “This game was full of emotion. To start off, we lost Ishant Sharma to injury in the first innings which meant we had to bowl with three bowlers.... and the wicket was flat.”

The India skipper attributes India’s victory to their bowling in the second innings. “The way we bowled in the second and third session (on day one) was remarkable and that really brought us back into the game. It was good to restrict them to a small total, though we were not happy at having surrendered a lead in the first innings.”

Dhoni also went on to praise his bowlers. “The bowlers did a great job in the second innings to bowl them out for 180-190. Then, the character shown by Ishant Sharma and VVS Laxman was very special, ably supported by a couple of other batsmen.”

Dhoni also made special mention about Laxman’s innings: "Laxman is a remarkable batsman. He is at the crease and you set any field for him, yet he manages to rotate the strike, score boundaries and keep the scoreboard ticking over. He's really an amazing batsman to have at number six, but it is because of the injury that he batted down the order. I think he did a really good job for us.”