India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is looking forward to an improved performance from his team in a crucial match against formidable Australia in the Champions Trophy here on Monday.
India started their campaign on an unimpressive note, putting in below-par bowling and batting displays to lose their opening game against arch-rivals Pakistan by 54 runs here on Saturday.
Pakistan are in a strong position to qualify for the semifinals from the four-team Group A, having won their matches against India and the West Indies. Australia have won their first match, while the West Indies are winless.
The top two sides advance to the last-four.
India looked a couple of quality bowlers short against Pakistan, who gained a big advantage after posting 302 in the day-night match on a good batting pitch. Left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra alone
impressed, finishing with 4-55.
”We didn’t bowl well. I tried whatever we had, but the captain can’t really go and bowl. At the end of the day, the bowlers have to go and bowl,” said the Indian skipper.
”It’s all about adapting to conditions. We should have adapted to the conditions. We could have done a lot better. Frankly speaking, I thought I was short of three bowlers. I didn’t know who to turn to.”
The Indian bowlers cannot afford to have another off-day as defending champions Australia have a strong batting line-up.
Australia’s depth in batting was on view in their opening match against the West Indies on a difficult track in Johannesburg on Saturday, where they managed to reach 275-8 after being 171-7 at
one stage.
Skipper Ricky Ponting top-scored with an impressive 79, but it was lower-order batsman Mitchell Johnson who boosted the total with
a rapidfire 73 not out.
”It was particularly hard work early on. It was a difficult wicket, so to get that sort of total was good going,” Ponting said after the match.
”The batsmen did a pretty good job and Johnson finished things off pretty well for us and those runs proved vital in the game.”
The pitch here is expected to favour batsmen more than fast bowlers as Pakistan showed against India on Saturday, with Shoaib Malik scoring a brisk century and Mohammad Yousuf making an 88-ball
87.
Australia are likely to field the same side that beat the West Indies by 50 runs, with batsman Michael Clarke still doubtful due to a back pain.
India, already without key batsman Yuvraj Singh due to a finger injury, will also need to bat better against Australia having excellent fast bowlers in Brett Lee and Johnson. – AFP
