New Delhi, October 31: Buoyed by the thumping victory at Nagpur, a confident India will have advantage in the third ODI against Australia at Ferozshah Kotla.
Dhoni brigade is looking to exploit the slow and low track of Kotla against Australia in a day-night encounter of seven-match ODI series.
Both teams will try to take a lead in the series here at Kotla ground. World Champions have been trying to sort out the loopholes in the bowling department.
Ricky Ponting said that team will bounce back in Delhi. He asked teammates to fire with full potential here today.
Ponting remembered importance of former pacer Glenn McGrath and said that team have been facing problem in death overs after McGrath’s retirement. “Ever since Glenn McGrath has moved out, the death overs have been a problem,” he said.
On the other hand, Indians are looking solid and composed after losing opening match at Vadodara by four runs. Team India outclassed Aussies in the all departments.
Lanky pacer Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar improved tremendously in Nagpur while Ashish Nehra’s good show with the ball is continued.
Another advantage for India is Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra will play on their home turf.
With the seven-match series tied 1-1, both the teams will be keen to regain the initiative in what promises to be a thrilling floodlit contest at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
The resounding victory in Nagpur will no doubt serve as a huge confidence booster for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men, who came out with a brilliant all-round display to claw their way back into the series after Australia took the lead.
Barring Sachin Tendulkar, the awesome Indian batting line up has looked solid with most of the top order batsmen being among the runs in the first two matches.
Dhoni himself led from the front with a blistering 124 off 107 balls while Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have laid the foundation with their lusty strokeplay.
While the Indians looked a confident lot, the Aussies have a few problems to sort out, particularly in their bowling department with pace spearhead Brett Lee, who sat out of the Nagpur tie because of an elbow injury, was ruled out of the game.
The spate of injuries to some of their key players has weakened the World Champions to some extent and a depleted bowling attack have only compounded their misery.
Wicket-keeper bastman Tim Paine was the latest to join the casualty list with a broken finger which has ruled him out of the entire series. Paine has been replaced by rookie Graham Manou, who is sure to make his ODI debut on Saturday.
“It will be like starting from the scratch in Delhi. Hopefully, we will improve in the areas where we did not do well and we will bounce back,” Ponting said.
His counterpart Dhoni would be delighted with the performance of his team, especially the bowlers who went for a ride in the series opener.
Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar looked menacing upfront with the new ball, while Ravindra Jadeja has been a sensation in the spin department and shared the responsibility ably with Harbhajan Singh, who is going through a rough patch.
“All the bowlers did well. Ashish Nehra is at his usual impressive form, Ishant Sharma is continuing with his good show and good thing is Praveen Kumar has come up good. Ravindra Jadeja came in late but got three crucial wickets in the last game,” Dhoni said.
To add to that, the options in the slow bowling department would be an advantage for the Indians in the low and slow Kotla strip.
The first two matches of the series have been high-scoring contests but tomorrow’s game could turn out to be a rather low-scoring affair with the Kotla pitch not very conducive for strokeplay.
The recent Champions League matches have shown that scoring freely would be a tough proposition although the curator has tried his best to prepare the track for the match.
Dew will be another important factor and both the captains will have that in mind when they go out for the toss.
—Agencies