Kumble praises India fightback

Zaheer Khan was happy with the way things went for him against Australia

India captain Anil Kumble revealed the team had decided not to chase their 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 performance.

"We would have loved to have won the game,” he said. "I think overall, for the first match of the series, I'm satisfied.”

"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.

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.”

Man of the match Zaheer Khan was delighted with his showing, saying: “It can’t get better than this. I’m really happy with the way things went in this Test.

“Our morale is high going into the second Test because to get a draw was a tremendous achievement.”