Mumbai, Nov 10 (Inditop.com) India will be desperate to finish on the winning side in the last inconsequential One-dayer here Wednesday, having lost the seven-match cricket series to Australia.
The victory here will at least put the Indian team in a better frame of mind ahead of the home series against Sri Lanka that starts Nov 16 with the first Test in Ahmedabad. But for that they will have to encounter a motivated Australian team, which will like to close the series with a 5-2 result.
Skipper Ricky Ponting has equated his team’s showing in India at par with World Cup and Champions Trophy title wins.
It was indeed a marvellous achievement by the Australians, who midway through the series were counting on just a handful of fit players to make up the eleven. As many as five frontline players had to fly back home with injuries.
Replacements were flown in one after another and it seemed that India were going to beat the visitors hands down. But the fighting spirit of Australia and their bench strength came through. Ponting used all his experience to get the best out of the available players.
The series win here came at the back of their ruthless 6-1 drubbing of England and the Champions Trophy title defence in South Africa.
Having sealed the series, Ponting said he is looking to leave Indian shores on a high.
“We want to finish the tour on a very positive note,” he said Tuesday. “We have played some excellent cricket over the past few weeks and, while the series has been decided, it’s certainly not over as far as we’re concerned. To me 5-2 sounds a lot better than 4-3 does, so we’re going to go ahead full steam.”
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has many things to sort out. The hosts have played well in patches, but they hardly looked the world No.2 side.
Their batting has been a big disappointment throughout the series and there were only individual performances to talk about.
The bowling too lacked depth and has not been able to cash in on the initial breakthroughs given by fast bowlers. After two ODIs, skipper Dhoni pointed out that he would want lead spinner Harbhajan Singh to take wickets in the middle overs. The off-spinner is expected to play an important role in the home series against Sri Lanka and would like to finish with some wickets under his belt.
