Kumble was devastating: Gilchrist

Describing Anil Kumble's seven-wicket haul as devastating, Australia's stand-in captain

Adam Gilchrist said his side will fight back on Friday, the second day of the second Test.

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"It's a devastating spell. Remember Sohaib Akthar producing a freakish spell in Colombo when we played them. Remember Curtly Ambrose producing such a spell at WACA. It's going to rank up as one of the best bowling performances," he said after the first day's play in Chennai on Thursday.

Gilchrist said the batsmen were done in by the bounce.

"We expected bounce but we didn't quite handle it. It's not a panic situation and we are disappointed with what we did. There was a bigger total for the taking. But credit to the Indians they bowled very, very well," he said, adding, it was tough to explain the Australian collapse.

"Damien [Martyn] and Simon [Katich] steadied the ship a bit (after the loss of the openers) but again we just kept losing wickets constantly and that built pressure.

"We know these things can happen in the subcontinent. Once a team gets the momentum they can really take it a long, long way and dominate the opposition through in a short space of time."

He pinned faith on his bowlers to repeat what Kumble achieved.

"We just got to fight hard tomorrow. Try and picture where it's going to go. We have a task at hand tomorrow. In the first session we need to make some inroads," he said.

The Aussie captain also commended the superb performance of the Indian spinners.

"Anil and Harbhajan [Singh] both bowled fantastic spells, particularly after lunch and obviously after tea. They just built up pressure. With men all around, the batting becomes crucial. And if you get through that situation, you have half a chance of building an innings. Unfortunately, a lot of us in the lower half didn't get through the first 10-15 deliveries.

"After lunch, the medium pacers got the reverse swing, which built pressure and later we allowed the spinners to come into their own," he said.

Asked about some of the Australian batsmen walking off without waiting for the umpire's verdict, Gilchrist said those were individual decisions.

"It was an individual's decision and the team management will not enforce that on anybody."