MELBOURNE, Dec 27: Australians Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting were acclaimed as the two best batsmen in the world by India’s Rahul Dravid on Saturday.

Hayden scored 149, his fifth Test century of the year and his 17th in all, while vice-captain Ponting struck an unbeaten 120 on the second day of the third Test.

The pair added 234 for the second wicket as Australia reached 317 for three in reply to India’s 366. India lead the four-Test series 1-0.

“Ponting and Hayden showed they are probably the top two batsmen in the world at the moment,” Dravid told a news conference.

“They have really been consistent over the past two years. It wasn’t the easiest wicket to play shots on.”

Hayden said Australia had needed a big partnership at the start of their innings.

“We’ve well and truly done that now. We’ve got a really nice launching pad into tomorrow. With some good disciplined batting we can get a big lead,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do before we win this game but we’re back in it.”

India were in firm control on Saturday morning when they resumed at 329 for four but the tourists were soon all out for 366, losing their last six wickets for 16 runs in 49 balls.

“It was a very satisfying day for us all round,” added Ponting. “We made it go our way with the ball and we’ve batted really well.”

India’s left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan broke down again on Saturday, finishing with none for 75 from 17 overs.

“There is a slight worry at the moment, but he showed a lot of character to keep bowling,” Dravid said.

“During the course of his fourth or fifth over he did feel a bit of a twinge. He knew he had to keep bowling and he did it.”

Dravid said India’s batting collapse was a combination of poor shots and Australia’s good bowling. “I just think we didn’t bat well. We should have done much better,” he said.—Reuters