Australia’s stand-in captain Shane Watson said they deserved to lose 0-4 against India after the home team raced to a six-wicket win on third day of the fourth Test here on Sunday. “It’s extremely disappointing to lose 0-4. The Indians have totally outplayed us, he said. The 31-year-old Watson, who stood in as captain after Michael Clarke had to return home because of injury, nevertheless said it was a big learning curve for the young team. “We haven’t played our best. It has been a big learning curve and that is one of the biggest challenges for us as a team is continuing to learn quickly. We have got a number of young players who are still learning,” he added.
Watson took the blame on himself as he did not score runs despite having the experience of playing here. “I haven’t scored runs. I know how important it would be to score runs and help the team get to a good total while other guys are learning around me. I didn’t score anywhere near the runs I wanted to. To see the way Phil Hughes has been able to learn quickly, whether it was the quicks or the spin was impressive.” The Aussie skipper said they were in the game after setting a total of more than 150 for India to chase. “I thought if we bowled well on that wicket we were giving ourselves a good chance in this Test. However, things didn’t go exactly right with the ball. If we were able to get one or two more wickets earlier we were in with a big chance because the way the wicket was playing was a big challenge for the batsmen coming in and our spinners would have played a big part,” he said.
On the top order failure in the series, Watson said the conditions here were foreign and just about the opposite to anything they have in Australia. “Playing cricket here in the past whether it was Tests, one-dayers or T20s the wickets have been different to those as well. It’s been a big learning curve for everyone.”The skipper was all praise for the tail-end batsmen who have time and again saved the team. “Peter Siddle batted beautifully in both the innings, as did Mitchell Starc. We as top order batsmen were doing everything we possibly could. It wasn’t easy to bat out there. Sometimes, like I did on Sunday, you just play a bad shot. There is no doubt that these conditions were challenging even for one of the greatest players ever to play the game. Sachin Tendulkar struggled with the spin and inconsistent and bounce.” The Australians play at their best when they are aggressive, according to Watson and there was no change of style in their approach after him taking charge “I know the Australian team is playing well when we are aggressive. We’re in the contest every single ball and make the opposition work,” he said.