Mohali: The Australian skipper Ricky Ponting is a disappointed man. Suppressing his emotion over the narrow defeat to India, he said: “We played a great Test match. We should have won, but we lost because our second innings batting wasn’t good. It is unfortunate to lose after putting India on the back foot; but they showed the nerve to get there.”
However Ponting is not willing to give up. “This is not the end of the world for us. We will bounce back and make sure to win in Bangalore,” he added.
“When we lose from a position to win, it is important not to dwell on the negatives. We need to look at the positives. We came off from a break and played really well in the Test and I feel some of my players, despite being inexperienced, did really well,” noted Ponting, who also failed to click in the second innings, after being run out in the first.
“It is undoubtedly one of the best Test matches I have played and must have been a great experience for the young guys in my team.” Ponting also felt that his strike bowler Doug Bollinger, who took three wickets yesterday, got injured at the wrong time.
“Bollinger had to leave the field because of abdominal stiffness. He would have been effective in getting the lower order batsmen out. We needed a bowler to give it a shake. Full credit to India; they outplayed us. But I feel it was a satisfying effort from my boys. The partnership between Laxman and Ishant made the big difference.”
