Stung by the defeat to India at Chandigarh, Australian captain Ricky Ponting
is not in a mood to concede more ground and cautioned the home team
that they will treat the fifth cricket one-dayer tomorrow as a virtual final.
"The last game was a terrific game of cricket and India have made it 1-2
and the series is alive. Tomorrow is a very important game for us and we would
treat it as a final. You know the Australian team is at its best in such games,"
Ponting said at the match-eve media conference today.
But the Australian skipper was also aware of the heat and humidity factor which
can trouble the visitors at the Reliance Stadium here.
"We have practiced extra hard today. We made sure we have lot of intakes
of fluids as it's very humid out there and the temperature is around 38 (degress
celcius)," he said.
Ponting felt that the way two six-footers- Andrew Symonds
and Mathew Hayden- have imposed themselves on the bowlers with their
size and power was an indication of how cricket will be played in future.
"Hayden and Symonds are imposing batsmen. Both are six-feet
and go down the track to put pressure on the bowlers. With more of Twenty20
cricket coming up batsmen like me may be forced to restrict ourselves to Test
cricket," he said with a smile.
|
