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Rediff.com  » Sports » Ponting slams Kotla wicket, lauds Indians

Ponting slams Kotla wicket, lauds Indians

By Our Correspondent
Last updated on: November 01, 2009 17:42 IST
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Ricky PontingIt is rare to see Australia being outplayed for two straight matches. But, then, you should not be surprised, as the team that did that is only second to them in the rankings. And if India does go on to win the seven-match series they will be crowned the world's number one team in ODIs.

India's batsmen, led by half-centuries from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, showed great purpose and application to script a convincing six-wicket victory in New Delhi on Saturday. It was a repeat of the triumph in the second ODI at Nagpur, though not in the same fashion. They had to grind and dig deep for this one.

India had amassed a mammoth 354 for seven in Nagpur after being put in to bat and were never really threatened in that game. At the Ferozshah Kotla they faced the worst of conditions after losing the toss, but still outplayed the World champions by getting their basics right.

Thus, it was not surprising that Australia captain Ricky Ponting praised the Indians after they took a well-deserved 2-1 lead in the seven-match series.

"India played very well, there is no doubt about that. They certainly batted a lot better than us, in probably slightly more difficult conditions," he said.

"It was a difficult wicket, but it was the same for both teams. We just were not good enough today."

Batting first, Australia were restricted to 229 for five and then had India struggling at 53 for three, before Dhoni (71 not out from 95) and Yuvraj (78 from 96) foiled their plans with a 148-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Man of the match Yuvraj said the initial target was to get through the first few overs and get the eye in before looking to shift gears.

"It was tough. I thought me and Mahi needed to get a big partnership of at least 50 runs, but the partnership got better. We both played smart cricket and didn't go for the shots early on. We waited for the loose balls, picked up the singles; so I think it was intelligent cricket by our batsmen," he said.

Ponting pointed out that there was a lot of dew on the outfield due to which his spinners were not able to make an impact in the middle overs.

The Indian spinners despite bowling first played a major role in the middle overs as they sent down 31 overs between themselves, taking five wickets for 131 runs.

In contrast, Australia's two spinners bowled just 11 overs between themselves for 61 runs and just one wicket, which Ponting believes was the key.

"The wicket was probably slightly worse, but I think our spinners in particular got a bit negated by how wet the ball was."

Australia's captain also expressed displeasure that his team was not allowed to change the ball, which had become wet because of the huge amount of dew on the outfield.

"We found it really difficult to hang on to the ball, so we asked numerous times to have the ball changed, and it was knocked back, and we had the one ball change. As you saw, the ground was incredibly dewy. It was very wet, probably as wet as I have ever played in," claimed Ponting.

The Australian bowlers tried their level best but could not trouble Yuvraj and Dhoni for the most part of the middle overs as the pair combined intelligent batting with sharp running between the wickets.

"We tried everything to separate Yuvraj and Dhoni, but it was an excellent partnership. They kept finding the boundaries whenever they needed to, unlike us in the middle of our innings. We found it hard to get boundaries. That was probably a bit of a difference in the game.

It is turning out to be a nightmare tour for Ponting as far as his tactics and captaincy skills are concerned. In Nagpur, he elected to field on a good batting wicket expecting dew later on, which didn't come, thus benefiting the Indians. In New Delhi, he was once again found short in tactics as he elected to bat first only to realise that the dew would hinder his spinners later on.

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