The Australians might have missed a rare feat to snatch their 17 straight win in the Test cricket but skipper Ricky Ponting has chosen to take the loss in his stride.
ADELAIDE: The Australians might have missed a rare feat to snatch their 17 straight win in the Test cricket but skipper Ricky Ponting has chosen to take the loss in his stride.
In his column in The Australian, Ponting said that the he is proud his team managed to equal their previous record of 16 wins.
"To win one Test is hard work, so to play well enough to win 16 in a row without the weather intervening is something quite special," said Ponting in his column on Monday.
On his team's loss at Perth, the Australian captain said that he was confident of winning the match, but his team fell short of 'one big' partnership to meet the desired result.
"This is my first loss in Australia as captain and it was always going to happen at some stage, but that doesn't make it any easier.
"If we had won, it would have been an amazing victory. Being bowled out for 212 in the first innings wasn't nearly good enough. I was still confident we could win, if we had that one big partnership, but that didn't eventuate."
Ponting also conceded that to steer his side to the historic win, his presence on the crease was important.
"My getting out was a crucial breakthrough for India. I certainly felt that if we were going to win the game, it was up to me. I was the most experienced player in the team."
Ponting expressed his satisfaction over the umpiring standards in the series, hoping that his team's achievement of 16 consecutive wins would get its due.
"I hope that's not overlooked because I think the magnitude of the achievement was lost, with all the fuss last week.
"We take the good with the bad and accept that umpires are going to make mistakes at different times. Why the reaction would be any different this week, compared to what happened after the Sydney Test, I'm not sure.
"We cop it on the chin and we get on with it, with anything we do. We accept that people are going to make mistakes. We try to improve and make ourselves better next time. The umpires are out there doing their best, as we are," the Australian skipper said.
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