Kumble defends 'wicketless' performance

Bangalore: Indian captain Anil Kumble said that the Indians would have chased the target of 299 runs set by the Australians on the last day of the first Test at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday if his team had got a good start from his openers.

"We would have definitely chased the target if Viru (Virender Sehwag) and (Gautam) Gambhir had given us a good start. After we fought back through Zaheer (Khan) and Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) we were confident of finishing the match on a high," Kumble said after India forced a draw in the first match of the four-Test series.

"If we had got a start like we did in the first innings we could have gone for the target. But unfortunately we did not and we had to settle for a draw.

"I think the toss also played an important role and if I had won the toss probably things would have been different and we could have been in a much better position on the fifth day," he added.

Speaking about his own performance, where he went wicketless for only the third time in his career, and his shoulder injury, which has been criticised by former chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar for insisting to play despite injury, Kumble said one failure should not be held against him and that his shoulder was feeling better and was hopeful of recovering fully with three days left for the second Test.

"I think just one failure should not be held against a player. As a captain I have played my part but I could not take wickets. It is not possible for a bowler to take wickets in every Test as everybody will have an off day," Kumble said.

"As far as my shoulder is concerned, it is much better now. There are still three days to go for the second Test to start in Mohali so we will monitor it (shoulder) closely," he added.

Speaking about the next match in Mohali, Kumble said India were confident of doing well.

"We are certainly going for a win in the next match. We are confident of doing well in the series as our aim is to win the series. In fact we would have been in a better position if we had got rid of Haddin or Watson yesterday. They batted well. Even today if I had taken Haddin's catch in the very first over, things would have been different but it did not work out that way," Kumble said.

When asked about the middle order failure in the first innings, particularly that of VVS Laxman, Kumble immediately came to their rescue by saying that all of them will get a century each in the next match.

"It is unfair to point a finger at any of them. Laxman has been a real champion and has won us matches in the past. It is not fair that people try to put an axe on him every time he fails and forget his contributions to the team's cause in the past or for that matter any of the players. All of them will perform as they have the quality and will get centuries at Mohali," he replied sarcastically.

Speaking about the pitch, Kumble agreed that the pitch had changed in the past eight years or so.

"The Bangalore pitch has changed with people fiddling with it in the past eight years or so but again as I said before, winning the toss could have made a difference," he said.