Shattered Simon Katich is keeping his thoughts to himself.

The disappointment of falling one run shy of a Test century led to him declining all requests for interviews after stumps so, in the absence of Katich talking about himself, others were left to talk about him.

It was all lavish praise.

Katich's 215-minute, 157-ball innings of 99 on day three of the third Test against India was so fluent and important that it was criminal for him to be denied just one more run. It's one of the quirks of cricket that a hundred is deemed to be so much more valuable than a 99, and the players are not immune to that reaction.

Having filled in admirably for injured captain Ricky Ponting at number three during the series, Katich came to the crease at 1-19 after the early departure of Matthew Hayden for nine.

He had to see off India's in-form paceman Zaheer Khan and then negotiate the probing spin of Anil Kumble and Murali Kartik. Katich kept the scoreboard ticking over without playing anything that went close to resembling a reckless shot, stroking 14 fours.

He snuck through for 35 singles.

One more would have been nice.

"That was an awesome knock," said Jason Gillespie, whose 5-56 had helped Australia roll India for 185 and take a 213-run lead on the first innings.

"If anyone deserved a hundred, it was Kat today."

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