“I wish I knew what went wrong,” began Kumble, adding, “It was important to bat sessions in the second innings, but the batting didn't stand up. It was the kind of track where if you got in, you could stay on. Overall, it was pretty disappointing.

“Credit to the way Australia bowled and put pressure,” he went on. “But we have the quality in our batting. We need to adjust the mental make-up more than anything else, and we will address it in the next couple of days. We should have ensured at least a better second-innings score after being dismissed for 196. The batting failed collectively twice and it hurts not just individually as a team. But I assure you that we will try our best to put up a better show in Sydney.”

Kumble justified Rahul Dravid opening the batting to accommodate Yuvraj Singh at number six. “It was the right decision. If you go by form, team composition and team dynamics, it was the best combination. Rahul is too good a player for me to worry too much about. If anything, he should relax a bit and enjoy himself. He has played more than 100 Tests and scored 9,000 runs. He is too experienced to be intimidated by anything or to worry too much. I am sure he will come out and bat the way he usually does soon.”

“We haven't been in Australia long, and batsmen are usually finicky about most things! But as a batsman, you need some time to adjust. Before this game, people questioned our ability to take 20 wickets. We have shown here that we have the quality in our bowling to pick up wickets. Now, it is a question of the batters rallying around the bowlers.”

So, did that mean he was saying there weren't enough practice games before the Test series? “It was definitely not enough,” responded the skipper. “I don't want to give excuses, we required some acclimatisation. But even so, we had our moments to get on top of them and we didn't do so.”