Punter’s ‘C’ vision

Ricky Ponting displayed the calm of a man at peace. If the Australian skipper was unduly worried about the challenges of a seven-match ODI series against India in trying conditions, he didn’t show it.

He broke into a smile when told that Brett Lee had predicted a 7-0 whitewash of India and again when asked if he saw a realistic chance of breaking some of Sachin Tendulkar’s batting records.

“Brett’s (Lee) talking about 7-0. I think he has taken over from (Glenn) McGrath,” quipped Ponting. On Tendulkar and records, Ponting’s reply was, “It would be nice if he retired sometime soon.”

The last time the Australians came to India for an ODI series — in 2007 — they won the seven-match affair 4-2. It was a team that had Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist. Ponting is confident that the changing face of his champion outfit will not be a hindrance to achieving success consistently — like they did in England and then South Africa. The 1-4 loss to South Africa at home in January this year is what coach Tim Neilsen called the ‘watershed’ moment in the recent history of Australian cricket. Since then, they held New Zealand at home, lost to South Africa in an away series but then went on to thrash England 6-1 in their own backyard.

“We couldn’t have done better than what we did in the last 12 games of one-day cricket. What we have been able to do, especially over the last few months, is play very good one-day cricket with the younger guys in the team. We’ve got a fresh set of challenges here. When opportunities present themselves in games it is a matter of not letting India take those opportunities. What we want to achieve as a one-day outfit is to be very consistent. The Australian teams of the past were very consistent,” Ponting said when asked what boxes he wanted to tick during the series.

Over time, Ponting has learnt to take the knocks on his chin. “What we have experienced in the last couple of years are a few ups and downs in our consistency. Our Test cricket and one-day cricket at different times has been very good. At times, it has been very ordinary. We have played some very good one-day cricket of late. I would expect that to continue over the next couple of weeks in India.”

Ponting believes the key to doing well this time will depend upon how the middle-order plays the Indian spinners.

The captain will have to shoulder a chunk of the responsibility during the series. “Over the last few weeks, I have played some of the best one-day cricket I have played in the last few years. For me, it is about continuing to improve and make myself a better one-day player. I know a lot of responsibility falls on me. Batting at No. 3, you are expected to score a lot of runs and be consistent.”