Sydney, Feb 24 India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said his side could have chased down the huge Australian total had the top order given a good start, though he was happy they gave a scare to their opponents by coming close to the target.

India's top four batsmen were out cheaply for 51 runs and Dhoni (36) and centurion Gautam Gambhir (113) revived the innings with a 98-run partnership for the fifth wicket but fell short of 18-runs after Robin Uthappa (51) was out at a critical juncture.

Dhoni admitted it was a case of so near yet so far but said he would take "a lot of positives" for his side from the loss.

"I think we can take lots of positives from the game even though we lost it. We never gave up for the run chase even after we had lost a couple of wickets early on," Dhoni said.

"I thought 317 was chaseable on this wicket. But, we started very badly in the run chase.

"Gambhir batted fantastically and he kept us in the hunt, but a big patrnership at the lower order could have alter the result," he said.

Dhoni was also happy that Uthappa came good despite for a lost cause and hoped the Karnataka batsman performed consistently.

"He is an unorthodox player. He is aggressive, can cut and pull. I hope he plays like that in the remaining matches. (Agencies)