Australia is in no mood to slacken the noose and Ricky Ponting claimed that his side has devised strategies to silence Yuvraj Singh, along with India's 'Big Three'.
CHANDIGARH: Remember the on field confrontations Ricky Ponting had with Harbhajan Singh a few seasons back? Then Steve Waugh was the captain and a young Ponting could perhaps have got away with a little display of aggression. Not any more.
With experience and the burden of captaincy, the 32-year-old has become far more measured and calculated as far his statements are concerned. And this despite not being as politically correct as some of his counterparts. It would be suffice to say that Ponting has taken to his responsibility rather well. Sample some of his calculated statements.
After Australia’s second straight win at Hyderabad in the previous ODI if anyone expected Punter, as he is affectionately called, to make big assertions, he was mistaken.
“The lead that we have taken will be pretty handy for us to prove ourselves in the remaining matches. I am happy at the way we have come so far and we have to take it from here,” said Ponting. And the Australian captain kept his comments as calculated here as well.
“India will definitely try to come back but we are aware of their strategies,” said Ponting on the eve of the match. Thereafter there was an element of caution - along with an undertone of aggression - in his subsequent statement.
“India will be depending on Sachin (Tendulkar), Sourav (Ganguly) and Rahul (Dravid) a lot but we know the strengths and weaknesses of these three batsmen and have made our strategies accordingly,” he said. “But I’m more worried about the youngsters.”
Talking of youngsters, does Australia see Yuvraj Singh as a threat? Especially after his scintillating 121 in the last match and with the fact that this was his home turf. “Yuvraj has always played against us, in the past, in the Twenty20 World Cup and now,” admitted Ponting. “So he’ll definitely be the dangerman.”
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