By IANS,
Melbourne : Australian captain Ricky Ponting has refuted allegations that his under-pressure bowling attack is resorting to sledging to unnerve Indian bastmen in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Indian opener Gautam Gambhir and all-rounder Shane Watson were involved in a spat on the opening day of the drawn third Test in Delhi. Both players were pulled up by Match Referee Chris Broad, who imposed a 10 per cent match fee fine on Watson and a one-Test ban on Gambhir.
Gambhir, who scored a double century in the match has appealed against the decision. He later said that Australians were trying to unsettle the Indian batsmen with their on-field chats.
On the final day of the match, Mitchell Johnson hurled verbal volleys on set batsman V.V.S Laxman. The stylish Hyderabadi, who boasts of a clean disciplinary record, was so much agitated that he gave it back to the fast bowler.
However, Ponting claims the number of incidents in this Test and the series is not a pointer to a wider problem.
“You have got to try and work out ways and set up plans to get batsmen out. The stuff that’s happening, I don’t think is anything to do with that,” Ponting was quoted as saying in The Australian.
“If we’re struggling to take wickets then that sort of stuff is not going to help you.”
Having failed to bowl India out once again, the Australians were trying to talk their opponents out, raising concerns about how the team will approach this week’s last Test in Nagpur, which Australia must win to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the report said.
“I’d like to think that those things aren’t getting to us on the field. We have got a pretty clear job to do,” Ponting said of his bowlers failing to make a significant impact in the series.
Ponting conceded that incidents where players get caught up in the moment can appear worse from outside the fence, and in the millions of homes where close-up pictures are beamed live.
“We as players have to understand they can look worse from the sidelines than they are on the field,” he said.
“I think both teams have still got their work to do to make sure that those things don’t keep happening.”
Gambhir had an altercation with Simon Katich as well on the first day.
“The Gambhir-Katich one was a bit of a tangle up and a few words between them. Michael(Clarke) went in, I went in, the umpires went in and it was sorted out there and then,” Ponting said.
“There was nothing else between those guys for the rest of the game. I don’t think that was necessarily started by us. I think both players were in that together. I don’t think that’s a sign of our frustration.”