It was a turning track and it turned out well for us Murali Kartik Australian post-match reaction

It provided consolation for home fans who had seen their team beaten twice in the series and feared the worst with Australia needing to score only 107.

"We would have liked 150 but the way the guys bowled, fielded and took the catches was absolutely brilliant.

"We've lost the series but we can take a lot of heart from this," said Dravid.

India's spinners rose to the occasion with Harbhajan Singh, who took 32 wickets in the 201 series victory over Australia, claiming 5-29.

He was aided and abetted by left-armer Murali Kartik, whose three wickets gave him match figures of 7-76 and earned his first Man of the Match award in Test cricket.

"He's had to live in the shadow of Harbhajan and Anil [Kumble], who are great spinners, so it's nice to see him have a bit of success for all the hard work he's put in," Dravid commented.

The pitch offered plenty of turn and bounce for the spin bowlers on both sides, conditions which Kartik revealed were not normally to his liking.

"Leading up to this game, the thought of having to bowl on a turner was the most frightening thing for me because I hate bowling on turners," he said.

VVS Laxman made a vital 69 and then took three catches

"A couple of senior players told me 'Don't get into your flighted varieties. We want you to keep hitting the deck and let the wicket do something from you'."

Kartik said there was no such thing as a perfect pitch.

"Any wicket, people are always going to find something wrong with it. If it turns, it's going to help the spinners, if it seams, it's going to help the fast bowlers, if it's a flat wicket, the bowlers are going to suffer."

Despite the victory, India still lost the series 2-1 and will now look to regroup in Bangladesh before a much tougher test against Pakistan on home soil next February.

Dravid added: "The Australians were deserving winners of the series. They pretty much outplayed us.

"It was nice for us to come here and win this Test match. It was an interesting wicket to play on, but we competed well after we didn't in Nagpur."