By IANS,
Sydney : Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke has dismissed growing realisation that their over a decade dominance in world cricket is facing serious threat from India.
India, who showed last summer they were prepared to stand toe-to-toe with the Australians on and off the field, have won two of the past four Tests against them since the acrimonious encounter in Sydney in January, and drawn the others.
But Clarke said the Mohali loss was not a sign that India, already a financial colossus in world cricket, had changed the balance of power on the field as well.
“I would disagree with that. It is not the first Test match I have lost, and I guarantee it won’t be the last. But I know our mindset will be exactly the same as it was at the start of this game. We are going into the third Test in Delhi to win it,” Clarke was quoted as saying in Sydney Morning Herald.
“After the first Test when we had a draw, I remember getting on the bus and ‘Punter’ (Ricky Ponting) said to Peter Siddle, ‘Mate you won’t see too many results like that in this team.’ It is so true. We want to win every game we play. We are going to do everything in our power to make sure we win the third Test. But we need to control the little things first.”
Clarke said India’s approach and willingness to take the Australians on verbally had not affected the visitors.
Clarke and Gautam Gambhir had an extended exchange during the Australian second innings, and pace bowler Zaheer Khan gave a verbal send-off to Matthew Hayden after he fell to Harbhajan Singh.
“I don’t even know if he knows exactly what was said by Zaheer Khan when he got out but it was some form of send-off,” Clarke said.
“Honestly, that sort of stuff doesn’t really bother me. Even with Gambhir, he was trying to talk and I said, ‘Mate, I’m not even listening to you, so whatever you’re saying you might as well talk to Dhoni because you’re honestly wasting your breath talking to me.”