Having helped his side reach a position of strength with a fine century, top Australian batsman Matthew Hayden said his team was now looking to win the third Test match against India and square the series.

Hayden's lusty hits saw him conjure his 17th Test ton as Australia raced to 317 for three on the second day on Saturday in reply to India's first innings total of 366.

"We are well back in the hunt. We are looking to win this match now," Hayden said.

"We played in the true spirit today and came back hard at India," said the left-hander, his head high after the Australian comeback.

India, 1-0 up in the four-match series, surrendered their initiative by some inept batting this morning and would now have to struggle to stop Australia from running away with this match.

And despite India dominating the first day, Hayden said the players were "fairly confident" of coming back into the match.

"We were bowling in the reasonably good areas even yesterday. We knew that if we continued that we will get the results. We knew we had to be patient."

"But the Indians batted particulary well yesterday especially (Virender) Sehwag," Hayden said.

The world record-breaking batsman might have hit 17 fours besides one six in his 173-ball scoring 136, but he did not believe the pitch was batsman-friendly.

"Runs have come at an incredible pace in this match. That it was particularly a difficult wicket to bat on was not reflected in the scorecards," he said.

"The wicket did not have bounce and the ball kept low. It made batting a little more dificult," he said adding it was because of the conditions that he was cautious in the beginning. "It is the kind of wicket where you need to have a good look at the conditions first and then open up."

Hayden admitted he was "disappointed" with the leg before decision off leg-spinner Anil Kumble saying "I was not too sure... But that's cricket -- you have got to take the good with the bad".

The opener said he had not pre-meditated to go after Kumble's bowling. "Anytime your frontline bowler is not fit it tends to put pressure on the others. Kumble was under pressure to take wickets today. In his attempt to do so he bowled much straighter and went for some runs. This can sometimes take the game away from you."