Melbourne: It’s hardly well earned, but The Telegraph learns that the Anil Kumbles will have a day off on Sunday, the scheduled last day of the opening Test which finished in under four days (on Saturday).

Captain Kumble, however, seemed to have been affected by the crushing defeat. The pain and disappointment came through during his session with the media.

The following are excerpts

On what went wrong

Wish I knew what went wrong... Our batting didn’t stand up... It was important to hang in there... We started losing wickets after lunch and... It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on, but you could still settle down.

On what needs to be done

The mental make-up of the batsmen needs to change... It’s not that they don’t have the skills to counter Australia...

On the only warm-up game being hit by rain

One isn’t enough because, whatever the conditions, one requires time to acclimatise... Having said that, we had our moments but didn’t capitalise, particularly after taking nine wickets in two sessions on the first day.

On the awful run-rate

I agree that it needs to be healthy and we’ve got to be positive... It was a matter of just one batsman getting a big score... We’ll be positive going forward... The batsmen didn’t bat freely and they’re a finicky lot... Bowlers can adjust quickly, not so the batsmen.

On whether the batsmen felt intimidated

Never thought so... They’ve got to be relaxed and positive... The bowlers showed they could bowl Australia out, now it’s a question of the batsmen getting runs. I’d been confident that our batsmen would at least get close to the Australian first innings total (343), even if we didn’t take a lead...

On the move to promote Rahul Dravid to the second opener’s slot

It was the right decision... Going by form and the team dynamics, it was the best combination... It was tricky, but I didn’t have a choice as the specialist openers who didn’t play (Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik) hadn’t been among runs (before the tour)... If Yuvraj Singh hadn’t been played, you would have asked why not? Ifs and buts will always be there.

On Yuvraj being one of the big failures (0, 5)

I’m not going to blame one batsman... That won’t be fair because the failure was collective.

On whether Dravid’s failures (5, 16) have left him worried

He’s too good a player to worry over his batting... He’s got over 9,000 runs and has over 100 Test appearances...

On where he would rate the batting failures in both innings

I don’t sit and rate... But, yes, it’s very disappointing and the team needs to be more hungry for success. The defeat hurts and not just individually.

On what had been the game plan for Saturday

We wanted to take it session by session... It wasn’t easy to score, but it wasn’t difficult to put one’s head down... Australia need to be given credit for the way they bowled.

On too much respect having been given to Brad Hogg

He bowled well... The situations weren’t there to go after him.

Finally, on the poor ground fielding

Some of us, including myself, are on the other side of 35 and it’s difficult to make adjustments... Some things can’t change... In any case, you don’t win by fielding alone... But, yes, one needs to have a high degree of intensity.