'I think our training wickets have been really difficult as well. So it's been nice to actually stand in a training wicket and keep to our bowlers.'
Patel smashed 74 and dominated his 114-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Ashwin to rescue India
India's batting megastars will be desperate to clear the cobwebs from their head in pursuit of a second successive World Test Championship final berth as they take on Australia in the series-deciding fourth Test in Ahmedabad from Thursday.
The Indian team, set to play the second Test against Australia from Friday, had to switch hotels in New Delhi.
The visitors, who are 2-0 behind in the four-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, finished the frenetic opening day 47 runs ahead with six wickets in hand.
David Warner has been under pressure after a poor run of form with the bat but returned after injury to the 17-man squad for the June 7 WTC final against India at The Oval and the first two Ashes Tests.
It still left Australia in possession of a sizeable lead of 88 and Lyon wrecked India's top order before the home side could erase their deficit.
Shubman Gill smashed a career-best 128 and Virat Kohli regained his form to fuel India's robust reply
Green's return would allow Australia to harness uncapped Matt Kuhnemann with Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy in a three-pronged spin attack
Images from Day 3 of the fourth and final Test between India and Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on Saturday.
India have already secured the Border-Gavaskar trophy and they will now be playing for a record-extending 16th straight series win at home
Images from Day 2 of the second Test between India and Australia, at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi, on Friday.
'To be fair to curators, they hardly got time to prepare the wicket. They had a Ranji season here and it was pretty late that it was decided the game will be shifted from Dharamsala. They did not get enough time.'
Great players have the knack of conquering the odds, and on Sunday Kohli crossed a major hurdle with the fighting spirit of a champion.
David Warner became a bit 'weary' after being knocked on the head by a Mohammed Siraj bouncer on day one of the second Test.
A lot of focus is on how Australia will cope with the dangerous Ravichandran Ashwin on turning tracks in India.
The Australians 'swept' their way to self-destruction in the face of the Indian spinners' guile in the second Test in Delhi on Sunday.