Australian captain Ricky Ponting today diagnosed the ailments of Indian
cricket as "mental pressure" and advised the team to learn to cope with
it.
"India is playing under a lot of mental pressure. They must learn how to
cope with it," Ponting said.
Ponting, who led Australia to an unprecedented fourth
World Cup win in the West Indies in April, said he a lot of respect for
Sachin Tendulkar.
"He is the best batsman I have seen and I am trying to be as good as him,"
he said.
Talking about the reasons for the phenomenal success of the
Aussies, Ponting said his teammates always kept the bar raising for themselves.
"We must never be happy with what we have achieved and
try as hard as anybody else. We never restrict ourselves because when you put
restrictions on yourself, you cannot achieve great things," the Tasmanian
said.
Ponting was speaking at a function to announce a scheme by
which every run that he scores in one-day internationals this year will help
to provide education to underprivileged children.
The Australian skipper said he hoped to score a lot of runs to ensure that
underprivileged children get a decent education.
"As a youngster, I was given several opportunities and I never took anyone
for granted and I am sure these kids would do the same," he said.
Ponting said he had never seen children enjoy cricket as much
as they did in India.
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