Ponting: Indians play old school cricket

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting addressing the media ahead of the Test match against India

Ahead of the all-crucial Test against India commencing on Thursday (Oct 9) in Bangalore, Australian skipper addressed a routine press conference and said that the Indians are playing old school cricket and the Aussies will bring the new age dimension.

Ponting said, "We know how they the Indians go about playing their circket, which is more of an old school type of Test cricket and we are going to bring about a new age cricket."

A confident Ponting believes that his team is better prepared than the Indians and that the pressure will be more on the Indians to perform in front of their home crowd.

He said, "Most opposition teams in India face challenges as far as spin is concerned. But we are focused and a good training in Jaipur and Hyderabad has helped us adapt to the conditions. We will bat well enough to add pressure on the Indian bowlers, as I believe that we are a better prepared team."

Adding on that the Aussies will play one spinner against India, Ponting said, "We will play one spinner in the first Test match. Who is going to be in the playing eleven will be spelt only before the match begins."

'Player retirements cause distractions'

Just a day after Sourav Ganguly called it quits, Ponting today said that players retirements are only a cause of distractions ahead of crucial series. He said, "The Indians will be facing the pressure of the retirement talks. But for Sourav the pressure has reduced after his announcement and the crowd will want to see him play his last four Test matches. However, there will be more on the other four."

Ponting added, "Team India won't want all the four to quit at the same time. Eventually the others will move on and within the upcoming few series, they will announce their retirements as well."

Ponting's strategy against team India

With both sides looking to battle out on the field tomorrow, in what is pegged as a rivalry greated than that of India and Paksitan, Ponting believes that the team has few strategies which will help them gain an upper edge.

He said, "We will add pressure on the Indian batsmen with our fielding, especially our inner-field fielding. With guys like Michael Clarke in key fielding positions, we hope to make it difficult for the Indian batsmen to run between the wickets. If we continue to add this pressure, then the batsmen will eventually get run out."

Also calling forme Indian coach Greg Chappell's presence in the Aussie dressing room as an advantage, Ponting said, "It is great to have Greg Chappell's influence around you. He has been helpful in eveything so far. He has given us a lot of insight in terms of the playing conditions and also about few players. It is always great to have a cricketing brains like him around."