SEP 27: The Australian captain Ricky Ponting starts of with verbal volleys ahead of their seven-match One-day series against India. The Aussies arrived on Wednesday evening at Banglore and will start off their campaign on September 29 in the city of gardens.
The Australians will certainly be more charged up after their recent defeat from India in the Twenty20 World Cup semifinal. Addressing his first press conference in Banglore Ponting categorically said that India’s Twenty20 World Cup win is a thing of the past now. Putting the onus on the Indian team, Ponting said, “Dhoni’s men will be under pressure after India’s T20 World Cup win.”
Punter shows aggressive attitude right from the word go, as it is the part of the of Australians strategy for quite sometime, Ricky Ponting said that Australian team always wants to win every game they play and this tour will be no different as they are here to win only.
Ponting also said that his side was better prepared to tackle the Indian team including big three guns Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly as it knows their "strengths and weaknesses".
"...If there is anything, pressure will probably come back on India," he said, adding, there would be lot of expectations from the Indian team after the Twenty20 triumph.
"One thing that stood out from all of us looking at the Indian team at Twenty20...Amount of youthfulness they had in the team, giving a nice fresh air," he said.
"It's unfortunate that some of the younger guys who were in this team will be making way for senior players to come back.
Ponting was very impressed with the on-field aggression of S. Sreesanth. Australian skipper said that his team is looking forward to "impose" itself on India in the coming series in the same manner.
"I know that Sreesanth's aggression is going to be there. That's what fast bowling is all about. I expect all the guys in our side to play with lot of aggression and (be) very positive with the way they go about things," Ponting said.
Ponting also said that cricket was generally all about putting pressure on the opposition. "That's what we try to do all the time".
Australian captain Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist also voiced same opinion about Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s leadership qualities. Both say that it is a great achievement for him to win the Twenty20 World Cup in such a short span of time as captain.
“He has done a pretty good job for the team," Ponting said about Dhoni.
“Leading a team to such a triumph just after taking over as captain is a great achievement,” he added.
Stand-in skipper Gilchrist said one of the main reasons for India's triumph in South Africa was that the side was "well-led." "Dhoni did a terrific job, applied well into the game. The team played the big moments very well."
Gilchrist said Dhoni handled himself with a lot of dignity off the field, while on it he seemed to have a cool mind and a well-planned strategy, which are qualities of a good captain, as he put it.
Responding to questions, Gilchrist said personally he enjoyed playing in a 50-over-a-side match more than Twenty20 game. “Fifty overs game is more challenging on the skill-set; Test cricket is greater than that.”
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