After the numbing 77-run loss to Australia in the fourth one-day international of the TVS Cup cricket tri-series, Indian captain Rahul Dravid defended his bowlers saying the rival 'batsmen batted well'.
"Definitely we should have bowled well but we must also credit the Australian batsmen for the way they applied themselves on a turning track," Dravid said after the match.
On a pitch which offered huge turn and bounce right from the start, Australia ran up 286 for eight before dismissing the hosts for 209 in 46.2 overs.
"The margin of error is always less against a team like Australia. We tried different things but they did not work.
"Now we have to go back to the drawing board and work out what went wrong. We will fight back," Dravid said.
"We needed one of us (VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and myself) to stay till the end but that did not happen.
"We had our chances when Laxman and Sachin put on a few quick runs and then Sachin and myself added 99 runs.
"But in the end we could not continue and I should say it was one of those bad days."
On asking Sehwag to share the new ball, Dravid said "the wicket was very hard and we thought of taking the pace off the wicket by bringing Sehwag who bowls much slower than Agarkar but it did not work out."
"We wanted to try something new but the Aussie batsmen attacked well," Dravid said.
The Indian skipper refused to blame the pitch for his team's debacle.
"It would have been nice to have batted first as there was some turn. But it is the same for both the teams."
"They (Australia) were definitely the better team of the day," he said.
On Sehwag's third consecutive failure as batsman, Dravid said "it is grossly unfair to say that he is not getting runs at the top of the order as he has just played three innings."
"As a captain, I don't think there is cause for any worry."
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"I was surprised by the amount of turn from early on. I would love to take this kind of wicket to the final, if we reach and provided I win the toss."
"We got a seaming track in Faridabad (against New Zealand) and in Gwalior (against India) it was really flat.
"I hope we get a good track to bat on in the next match," Ponting said.
Damien Martyn, whose 100 off 119 balls set the platform for Australia's victory said his team focussed on building partnerships when batting.
"It was tough early in the innings (to bat). We wanted to build good partnerships, keep the wickets intact for the late overs," said Martyn whose fifth century in ODIs on Saturday was also his first on Indian soil.
Martyn featured in two crucial partnerships for Australia. First, he added 78 runs with Andrew Symonds for the fourth wicket before producing 111 runs for the fifth wicket with Michael Bevan.
"Batting in India is a great challenge for us. It is good to make runs here, because then you know that you are really batting well," he said.
