According to captain Ricky Ponting, Australia’s eyes are firmly on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy despite the distractions the day prior to the start of the first Test.
With the announcement by former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly that this series will be his last and overnight comments from opener Virender Sehwag, who claimed India would have won the SCG Test had Australia not claimed several catches, Ponting was adamant that his side has moved on and were focussed very much on the task at hand.
“It’s all gone now. It’s behind us. It happened six or eight months ago and now it’s about moving forward and winning a test series here in India which we know is a big challenge for everyone that comes here,” he said.
“The fact that they’re still thinking about the Sydney test is a good thing for us. We’ve obviously moved on a long time from then.”
“We’ve played a lot of cricket since then, as have they, but the fact that they’re still thinking about a test match that they lost is a good thing for us going into this series.”
“There was a lot made of it at the time but we addressed the issues coming out of the game and obviously it would appear to us that they haven’t so if it’s still lingering in their minds they’re obviously not focussing on Thursday.”
“That aside, we know what we’ve got to do here, we’ve played well here in the past, have a record here in India that we’re very proud of and it’s a matter of playing a brand of cricket here that will keep us in good stead.”
With Australia’s twelve including both spinners Jason Krezja and Cameron White, Ponting said that selection would be a game-time decision but also that he had faith in both potential debutants along with Australia’s experienced pace-attack.
“One of those two, (White) or Jason Krezja will be wearing a Baggy Green cap for the first time so there’s a great challenge ahead for our spinner going into this Test Match.”
“As I said after the last game, I really think the way the India batsman treated Krezja in that (tour) game won’t happen again in the Test Matches. The more senior guys have probably got a fair bit more pressure on them. I think he can do a good job Jason if he gets an opportunity.”
“Our spinners are young and inexperienced at Test level, but if you look at our fast-bowlers, who were the ones who did most of the damage here last time we played in a Test Series and did such a fantastic job, those guys are very skilled, very talented and there is no reason why our fast bowlers alone can’t win us this Test Series.”
