Bangalore, Sep 27 (IANS) Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting said Thursday India deserved to win the Twenty20 World Championships but that is history now and the home side will be under pressure against the visiting outfit.
“We are here to win every game and India will be under pressure,” Ponting told a news conference ahead of the first one-day international (ODI) Saturday being played under lights at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here.
The Australians, who lost to India in the Twnety20 semi-final, arrived here Wednesday evening for the seven-ODI series plus a Twenty20 game.
“One thing that stood out from all of us looking at the Indian team at the Twenty20… Amount of youthfulness they had in the team, giving a nice fresh air,” he said.
But some of it will be missing as Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly will be back in the team, he noted.
That will be to Australia’s advantage as “we know their strengths and weaknesses,” Ponting said.
“It’s unfortunate that some of the younger guys who were in this team will be making way for senior guys (who are better players) to come back,” Ponting said.
“I guess the thing for us is that we played against these guys a lot – Dravid, Ganguly and Tendulkar. We know their strengths and weaknesses very, very well. So, if anything, probably it will make it easier for us to prepare to play and with these guys in the team.
“If there is anything, pressure will probably be on India. There will be lot of expectations from the Indian team after the Twenty20 triumph,” he said.
“Twenty20 victory is a thing of the past, they should not take Australia for granted as we have a very good one-day record against India.
“We always want to win every game we play. Twenty20 strategy could spill over to the ODIs as well.
“There is no doubt that some of the players will be under pressure. We have lots of plans for individual players,” Ponting said.
The Aussie captain acknowledged that “momentum that India currently has can be a difficult thing to stop in the game of cricket but the coming series starts as an even conest.”
“They (India) played great cricket. They deserved to come back as champions. But that’s finished now. We got to look forward to the series.”
Ponting who suffered a hamstring injury in South Africa during the Twenty20 tournament, said he has not ruled himself out of Saturday’s day-nighter.