Bhajji, Zaheer have given us hope: Dravid

Bangalore: Former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid said the Indians have to be positive despite the wickets in India deteriorates as the match progresses and the team still needs to put up a fight Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan did on the third day of the first Test against Australia.

"On any surface all the three results are possible. In India as the match progresses the wicket keeps deterioration. It's a good game in which we are behind at the moment. Still two days are left and from this position we need to still put up a fight," Dravid told reporters after the match on Saturday.

Speaking on playing most of his shots on the leg side during his 23rd fifty in Test cricket, Dravid said, "I think the wicket was little slow and low. They (Aussies) tend to bowl a lot straighter and when they do that, obviously the tendency is to play on the leg side. So the scoring opportunities are more on that side."

"It was not easy to play shots on this wicket, especially once the ball got old and started reverse swing. They got the ball to reverse very quickly. It always meant that scoring was not that easy. But when Harbhajan and Zaheer got the harder ball later in the evening they played well and put up a good partnership to bring us back into the game. Obviously once the ball gets older and softer it is very difficult to get runs on these wickets," he added.

Speaking about the uneven bounce, Dravid said "We could not trust the bounce as much as we would probably on a good wicket. We just had to be watchful. It was one of those wickets we never felt like we were in even if we batted for a long time, especially against quicker bowlers and with the ball reverse swinging.

Expressing happiness over his form Dravid said he concentrated well during his half century.

"I was pretty happy with the way I concentrated and with the way I played today. I would like to have carried on and got a few more runs. But it's nice to get a good start and I hope to get some good scores in the series," he said.

"It happens in India. The wickets are quite slow and low. Team batting first obviously have that slight advantage. I think they batted well. With couple of hundreds they put pressure on us. But I think we could have batted a little bit better today and may be we would be in a better position today to force a result on day four and five," he added.

Regarding Zaheer and Haddin altercation on the field, Dravid laughed and said, "Zaheer never told me what happened. I never asked him, he never told me. It's part and parcel of the game. So I don't think there was anything serious, if it was he would have mentioned it. He didn't mention, no one mentioned, so I don't think there was any issue."

Speaking about the outcome of this Test, Dravid said, "We still got to be positive. We still got to keep believing. Lot can happen on this wicket. Anything can happen on this wicket. I think we're very positive.

"That partnership of 80-odd runs between Zaheer and Harbhajan has given us a bit of hope. We know that wicket is not going to get easier as the game goes on. Still Australia has to bat third. I know they're tired at this stage. If we can get a few more runs tomorrow maybe we can put some pressure on them by taking some early wickets when they bat. Obviously we're behind a little bit. But not far behind that we cannot fight back. We saw Clark and White getting some turn. If our spinners also do the same two interesting days of cricket is left from here on," he added.