Ponting blames it on plan going awry, Clarke cites off-field events

“We all got this one wrong. It hasn’t been a bad wicket, but it hasn’t been what we expected it to be,” Ponting said. “The whole game hasn’t panned out the way we would have liked. In the first innings, we got our ends mixed up, the way the breeze was all over the place on the first morning,” he was quoted as saying in The Australian.

Ponting had warned India ahead of third Test that he would unleash the wicket-taking machine —Shaun Tait— but dmitted his own mistake in not utilising his resources to the optimum level.

“I haven’t been able to use him the way I wanted to. He didn’t come on until late and only bowled a couple of overs efore lunch.”

Ponting let Tait bowl 21 overs in the match and the speedsters went wicket less in the match. However, the skipper still exuded confidence that Tait would do well at Adeliade, venue for the fourth and deciding Test, beginning on January 24.

Meanwhile, Australia’s captain-in-waiting Michael Clarke said the world champions went through an excruciating emotional roller-coaster in the past couple of weeks as they battled an image crisis and saw their 16-Test winning streak halted by a resolute Indian side.

“It’s been a hell of a ride. I don’t think many players have experienced what we’ve experienced,” Clarke was quoted as saying in The Courier Mail, as he reflected on a tumultuous couple of weeks for the Aussies. Clarke said not many can understand what his team went through as it struggled to cop with the disturbing situation. “I know, I have copped it ... you don’t know how you will handle that sort of stuff until you are in the chair,” Clarke, whose image took a beating after he claimed a contentious catch of Ganguly in Sydney, said. The right-hander found support in former Australian players with ex-skipper Steve waugh saying no matter what was said about the right-hander, he remained a worthy successor to Ponting.