India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly said his team lost the opening tri-series match against Australia from a winning position, and vowed to bounce back in the remaining matches.
"We managed to lose the game from a good position," Ganguly said, referring to India's batting slump that saw the team lose the last six wickets for only 13 runs before being all out for 270 in reply to Australia's 288.
"We will definitely do better next time," said a visibly disappointed Ganguly, who made a solid 82 off just 83 balls.
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Ganguly said the target was within India's reach, as scoring runs on a good batting track was not a big ask.
"We enjoy batting here. Under the light, the tracks here do not behave like those in India. It was a good wicket tonight with good carry. So run-making was not that difficult," he said.
For the Indian captain, Sachin Tendulkar's batting was the highlight of the match. "He had a few bad games in the early part of the series, but now he is playing well and hitting the ball nicely."
Tendulkar continued from where he had left in the World Cup in South Africa last year, making a 69-ball 63 to give India a fine start.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting believed the match gave his side a chance to make amends for some disappointing fielding during the just-concluded four-match Test series.
"We had addressed the catching aspect after the Test series, and I am happy that we were quite good on the field today. We will improve as the series progresses," said Ponting, who made up for the failure with the bat with a couple of fine catches, including the one of Tendulkar.
The Australia captain said the closely-fought match was "one of the best I have played at MCG for a long time.
"It was a very good game for us and it was important to win the opening match. Our bowling is pretty on though we had not much luck."
Hard-hitting all-rounder Andrew Symonds bagged the man of the match award for his all-round show.
Symonds followed his 102-ball 88 with the wickets of Tendulkar and VVS Laxman while giving away 47 runs in 10 overs.
"I enjoyed my job of being an all-rounder. It was just swinging a bit earlier due to moisture but I decided to hang on," he said.
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