Melbourne, Dec 27: The loss of Sachin Tendulkar in the final over today has made it an interesting contest against Australia in the opening Test and India will have to bat really well tomorrow to get the upperhand, feels spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
“That one wicket in the end, we again have to rebuild before the second new ball, it would be interesting contest and we would have to stick our heads out and bat really well tomorrow,” Ashwin, who took 3 for 81 during Australia's first innings of 333 all out, said after the end of second day's play.
“100 runs behind, we know how Rahul (Dravid) and Sachin could have really stacked it up. That didn't happen, Hopefully someone else could do it; we know laxman is there.
“If sun beats down and wicket eases more, we need to bat as much possible and get as much lead as possible. As far as this game's result goes, it's all about first innings situation the two teams find themselves in,” he added.
Ashwin was disappointed Tendulkar (73) couldn't go on to get his 100th international century but said it would come in due course.
“It's eventually going to happen. No point in bothering about it. We're very happy to be in the position we are presently. Probably one wicket lesser would have been nice. Tendulkar played very well but eventually he got a good ball,” Ashwin said.
According to the off-spinner, it's the kind of MCG wicket where a batsman never really finds himself in. He hoped the MCG track would open up to offer him help in the second innings.
“Hope there are patches which open up. As of now the wicket is hard and solid underneath, it doesn't look it would break much. Any deviation from the wicket would certainly help. We have to put ourselves in a good position with the bat and then take it from there.
