Sydney, Sep 20 (ANI): Not expecting miracles from the Australian team in the coming two-Test series against world No.1 India, skipper Ricky Ponting says he wants a high level of performance from his players.
The bulk of the squad left Sydney on Sunday for a tour of India that includes one practice match and two Tests, with a separate component of three one-day internationals.
Australia have dropped to fourth in the Test rankings, below India, South Africa and Sri Lanka, and Ponting that conceded his team had work to do to regain top spot.
"I don't expect miracles, but expect a very high level of performance over the next few weeks," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Ponting, as saying.
"It's an important tour for all of us. I'd like to get the team back to number one again and this will be hopefully just one of those steps along the way.
"If we happen to play the cricket I know we are capable of in India and we can win that series, that will do great things for us to get back up near the number one ranking," he said.
Accepting that the tour of India wasn't the perfect preparation for the coming Ashes series, Ponting said the schedule was better than the original one, which featured only seven one-day matches.
"There's been a bit of talk the last few weeks about our preparation into what we've got later in the summer and I definitely couldn't be happier with it, playing Test cricket at this time of year," Ponting said.
"For us, I think it will be great to be challenged the way that we will be challenged over there, by a very good team and by the conditions. I think it will be great for us when November (and the Ashes series) comes around," he added.
Ponting believed the team heading to India would be better prepared than the side which drew a two-Test series against Pakistan in England a couple of months ago.(ANI)
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