Hyderabad, Nov. 6: His valiant effort notwithstanding, Sachin Tendulkar was a disappointed man on Thursday night.

The master blaster slammed a whirlwind 175 only to see India fall three runs short — chasing 351 — against Australia in the fifth one-dayer here.

Said Tendulkar, "We started off very well, there was a good partnership between Suresh (Raina) and me at one point of time. But we lost few crucial wickets and also the game itself. So it’s disappointing at the end of the day."

Asked if he would rate this century as one of his best ever, he said, "Yes, sort of. I was hitting the ball well. It was one of my better knocks, but we should have won. That we were chasing 351 meant there was constant pressure on us to keep the run-rate up. We managed to do that and took the game quite close."

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni felt they were in the hunt till the very end.

"Three or four of our top batsmen did not score but still we came close to the target. Sachin played very well and he was one man who brought us close to a win. But even after he left we did not lose hope till the end," Dhoni said.

He agreed that the hundred on Thursday was a special innings from the batting ace, but his personal favourite was the Desert Storm in Sharjah against Australia in April 1998. "It was a pleasure to see him bat the way he did tonight. All his centuries have been special and this hundred too was a breathtaking one. But I am still a big fan of his desert storm (innings)," he said.

On the lost game, the India skipper felt that his side lost in the mental aspect more than the cricket. "I don’t think it was the talent part. I think it was the mental part, where you know you can play a big shot and you back yourself to do that," Dhoni said.

"At times you just go through the motions, you don’t know if such a shot is needed or not," he added.

Asked about the turning points in the match, Dhoni said, "We dropped three catches. One of them was tough. We lost too many wickets in the middle order. Myself, Gauti, Yuvraj, we got out pretty quickly. We could have done better."

Dhoni defended Ravindra Jadeja who was run-out at a crucial juncture and said, "He is a youngster, don’t take that away from him. When he plays more and more games, he will learn. It is tough, but he shouldn’t be pointed out. He is doing the job for us. He is bowling well, he is a great fielder. He is learning the art of batting at this level. As long as he keeps learning from every game, it is fine."