With the pitch at the MCG deteriorating, Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh admitted on Friday that chasing the Australian target of 499 would be a tough task for the visitors, but hoped that their formidable line-up will stand up to the challenge.
"Obviously, it's a stiff target, but I won't say it's not achievable," Harbhajan said after the third day's play, which India ended at 6 for no loss.
"With the kind of batting line-up we have, if we play to our potential anything can happen in cricket and this is a good wicket to bat on and I'm sure our batsmen are looking forward to going out and showing some character tomorrow," he added.
Harbhajan rued the first innings collapse and said the situation could have been different had India not conceded a 147-run lead to the hosts.
"If we had batted well in the first innings, I think the match would have been evenly placed. But I still believe that we have the calibre to save it. We just have play through the next two days," he said.
Harbhajan said the MCG track was keeping low and with hardly any bounce, it has turned out to be quite an opposite of a typical Australian pitch.
"There is hardly any bounce or spin in this track and it gets a bit tough on these sort of wickets. It is not a typical Australian track which offers good bounce," Harbhajan pointed out.
Harbhajan, who surpassed the 250-wicket mark after scalping three today, said he varied his pace to surprise the batsmen and be more effective.
"It is a nice feeling to surpass the mark but I think I could have bowled better. But I would take it as a learning thing... it's a bit tough on such wicket and I bowled okay but could have done better."
"In the first innings, I was taking a lot of time before delivering the ball but varied my pace and angle in the second innings as the track was not helping me," he explained.
The off-spinner said even his doosras were rendered ineffective by the non-responsive pitch.
"I bowled quite a lot of doosras but the wicket is too slow, they didn't go as I wanted. I was looking to bowl a good rhythm and a couple of early wickets would have helped," he said.
