Anil Kumble seeks the umpire?s verdict at the Eden on Friday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: Anil Kumble believes India have fought back hard in the second Test.

?We are back in the game... To be 150 ahead on the third day with seven wickets still in hand is a great position to be in.?

The leg-spinner said despite the Younis Khan-Yousuf Youhana partnership on the second day, the Indians never lost heart. ?We knew that we needed one wicket to break the partnership. We couldn?t get that yesterday. Inzy?s wicket, too, was crucial. Getting those wickets early was the key to getting the lead,? Kumble explained.

What was the difference in India?s strategy on Friday? ?We kept the pressure up, didn?t give away a lot of easy boundaries. Yesterday, they ran very well and that made the difference.

?You also don?t expect things to happen on a second-day wicket. But it is important for us to bat the whole of tomorrow. We need to be more than 300-plus ahead, because it?s not easy to bat on the last day. That?s the game-plan.

?Hopefully, Rahul (Dravid) and Sourav (Ganguly) will take us ahead tomorrow. We would like to extend our lead and play for as long as we can so that we are in a position from where we can attack all the time in the fourth innings... To have three or four men around the bat at all times will be an ideal situation with two spinners bowling.?

Kumble, however, did not wish to comment on the Sachin Tendulkar dismissal. ?I saw what you saw? Can?t really make a comment??

Does he think India are in the driver?s seat? ?It?s too early to decide. A lot depends on how we go to lunch tomorrow.?

Kumble felt Dinesh Karthik had done a commendable job in this Test. ?He did a good job? There was a bit of uneven bounce and the ball was coming off the rough. It wasn?t easy in the circumstances.?