India have nothing to lose: Ashwin

India have nothing to lose in their irretrievable series position and have a license to play their natural game against rampant Australia, spinner Ravi Ashwin said on Tuesday.

The Indian tourists found themselves in a familiar position in the fourth Test, slaving away in the field on a stifling day as Australia piled on 335 for three on day one.

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The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is gone after heavy losses in the first three Tests and India face the ignominy of a 4-0 series wipeout and their eighth consecutive away Test defeat in Adelaide.

Once again it was their series protagonists, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, who had them in trouble with centuries in an unfinished 251-run stand for the fourth wicket with prospects of a 500-plus innings total on Wednesday's second day.

Ashwin, who was thrown the ball in the fourth over by stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag, believes all is not lost on the flat Adelaide batting strip.

"I think we have nothing to lose at this point in time," he said.

"Being three-nil down gives us a bit of a license to go out and play our natural game which could be a real blessing in disguise for us and all that's important is to (each) get those first 20-30 runs and stick it out.

"We'll have to look for those initial starts and try to capitalise and that could be the crucial part of this game."

Ashwin said the tourists did not have a psychological block bowling against Ponting and Clarke, who claimed their second centuries of the series on Tuesday.

"I don't think there is any psychological block towards that, but we were definitely telling and egging each other on especially in the second session of play," he said.

"We had to be really tight in that particular phase after lunch where it was quite crucial and that's where we gave a few easy runs to both of them and they just took off from there.

"After that it was quite easy to carry the momentum on.

"It's happened in two Tests now in Sydney and now in Adelaide and we'll look to get a couple of wickets tomorrow."