By Sanjay Rajan
BANGALORE, India, Oct 13 - Frustrated Australia
captain Ricky Ponting took a swipe at India's negativity after
the first test ended in a draw on Monday.
"We were the only ones in the game trying to take the game
forward. We played aggressive cricket. I am not surprised by the
way they played, the Indian team do play a lot of drawn games,"
Ponting told a news conference.
India clung on for a draw at 177 for four after being set an
unlikely winning target of 299 on a difficult pitch.
"We thought we had a really good contest on our hands
today," Ponting added.
"We got some extra runs we thought might have needed. We
gave it our best shot with the ball but we just didn't create
enough opportunities today.
"We played good cricket, there is no doubt about that, we
dominated this test match pretty much from the second or third
over on the first day.
"We could not win it at the end, but it was a pretty good
start to the series for us."
Sachin Tendulkar top-scored with 49 in India's second
innings, dismissed 14 runs short of equalling Brian Lara's world
runs record.
India paceman Zaheer Khan said Australia's failure to force
a victory would put them under more pressure for the remainder
of the series.
The second test in the four-match series starts in Mohali on
Friday.
"They know they can't take our 20 wickets. They couldn't get
me and Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) out, what else do you want? They
are under pressure, we know that," man of the match Zaheer told
a news conference.
"On a fifth day wicket their spinners couldn't do us any
harm. That tells everyone what their spin attack is all about,"
said the left-arm seamer who took five wickets in the first
innings.
"Even their pacers, they didn't look like getting a wicket,
especially on the fifth day on a wicket like this."
Zaheer and Harbhajan scored fifties and shared in an 80-run
stand in the first innings which rescued India who then narrowed
down the first-innings deficit to just 70 runs.
(Editing by Justin Palmer)