"At the end of the day he’s got a responsibility to ensure we’re bowling the overs we have to bowl," Nielsen the australian coach said of Ponting, the skipper who had faced a one-Test suspension had the Australians not drawn level with the over rate.
"There’s a responsibility for all teams to make sure they bowl the 90 overs in a day that’s required in the spirit of the game."
"That was Ricky’s challenge. We’d gone slowly before the (tea) break and we had to try and catch that up."
Dhoni said that he was happy with whatever happened on the field,
"It is great when you get to face part-timers when you are not in a good position," he said before accepting that Ponting had found himself in a difficult position.
"Australia don’t have a second specialist spinner, so there is always a threat when you bowl too many pacemen and don’t think about the over rate early in the day."
"In the morning, we were ready to set them a target of about 360 in 90 overs," Dhoni said.
"But we faced a tough situation at tea and it’s not the kind of scenario you are happy with. We lost quick wickets, but in the end we were happy with the amount of runs we got."
"We need a good start from the fast bowlers," he said.
"Zaheer (Khan) and Ishant (Sharma) have bowled well throughout the series and the sort of start they give us tomorrow morning will dictate the course of play.
"Given the fact that we lost six wickets in a heap, chasing four runs per over on a fifth day track is not going to be easy.
"The ball will also go soft and there will be wear and tear on the wicket.
"It’s quite a difficult (task) but not impossible (to achieve).
"But, we are not worried what the opponents will do; we want to do what we are supposed to do."