'We would like to go home with a win in Delhi'

The prospect of suffering a rare series-whitewash against India is looming large on them but Australian skipper Michael Clarke said such a situation has not arisen due to lack of hard work and they would do everything to sign off the tour with a win in Delhi.

India for the first time have won three Test matches in a series against Australia and stand a very fare chance of making it 4-0 in Delhi. 

Clarke though said they have learnt their lessons from the defeats and the improvements in the side give him hope that they can tuen the tables on India in the fourth match. 

"It's very hard when you are losing. You want to win every game. The boys are disappointed as we have not had as much success as we would have really liked from this tour. But its not for lack of work, we are working hard and trying to get better and like I say we would really love to finish on a high in last Test at Delhi," Clarke said after losing the third Test by six wickets.

"It is disappointing that we cant win the series, we cant level the series, but I think the players have learnt a lot. We would like to go home with a win in our last Test in Delhi," he added.

Clarke was extremely pleased with the fight put on by his teammates while defending a meagre total of 132. 

"The best form of defence is taking wickets, in my opinion. If you want to slow scoring, whether T20, Test cricket or One day cricket, the best thing is to take wickets. 

"Our goal was to take as many wickets as we could. With 130 plus on the board, you never know what can happen in this game I thought the boys put up a lot of fight and deserve a lot of credit for that," he said. 

Clarke said the intention was to win the match and not just go for a draw and that was the reason they did not opt for negative field settings. 

"We play for a win, first and foremost. If you can't win you take a draw and if you cant take a draw, then you have to deal with a loss. 

"In the first hour, when we went out to bowl, we could have taken as much time as possible, could have wasted time to slow the scoring and not bowled many overs because we knew you have to bowl 15 overs in the last hour, but I don't think that's the way we play our cricket. We were very close to having a draw," Clarke said.

Asked with series now in pocket of India, does it make the Delhi Test a dead rubber, Clarke said,"I have never played a Test match which has been a dead rubber in my life and this one certainly is no different. 

"If I am unavailable due to my fitness, I don't know I haven't spoken to the selectors, but I would imagine that Watto will be the captain, that's for sure."

Clarke felt scoring over 400 runs in the first innings was a big positive for them but there are a couple of areas where they can improve.

The visiting skipper said the biggest difference between the hosts and Australia was that the Indian batsmen were making big hundreds and rattling mammoth partnerships. 

"They have been making big 100s whereas we are making lot of starts, lot of 50s. Mitchell Starc deserves a lot of credit the way he played. I would like to see one of us in the top five or six go on to make a big 100. The other areas is that their spinners are doing a good job, but we are improving. 

"In the last two Test matches, we have shown that if we break that big partnership, we have bowled really well and I think apart from the big partnership (between Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay), the other wickets fell for about 200 or 209 runs, which is really a good sign," he said.