We will leave the talking to the Indians - Ponting

[suma25]

India v Australia, 3rd ODI, Hyderabad 'We'll leave the talking to the Indians' - Ponting George Binoy in Hyderabad October 4, 2007 Ricky Ponting: "He [Harbhajan Singh] has plenty to say on the field and then whenever someone says something back to him, he is the first one to run away from it" © Getty Images The tone had been set before the first ball of the series was bowled. Andrew Symonds said he was spurred by India's elaborate Twenty20 victory celebrations. Robin Uthappa said India would challenge Australia and fight "fire with fire". They did not turn out to be empty words. Tempers and emotions were freely expressed during the second one-dayer in Kochi and though Chris Broad, the match referee, did not dock anyone's match fees; he did speak to the two captains, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Adam Gilchrist, about the standard of on-field behaviour. That was two days ago. Since then the action off the field has kept everybody entertained. Andrew Syomnds said that he was "disappointed" with Sreesanth's behaviour and Harbhajan Singh said he was subjected to "personal and vulgar" words which was what he was responding to after he was stumped in Kochi. Ricky Ponting, who is due to make a return in the third ODI, made an effort to downplay the whole issue but did not refrain from taking on Harbhajan who had said that there was "nothing gentlemanly about the way they [Australia] play". "I don't really care what he [Harbhajan] has to say, to tell you the truth," Ponting said on the eve of the third ODI. "He has plenty to say on the field and then whenever someone says something back to him, he is the first one to run away from it. We play our cricket in a nice aggressive way and we play within the rules and within the spirit of the game. "I don't really know what happened the other day but if you look at his [Harbhajan's] record and Sreesanth's record over the last few years and they have been involved in a lot of those altercations." Ponting also suggested that India's aggression was a façade and not the natural way they play their cricket. While the Indians have matched Australia in verbal duels, they have lagged behind in terms of cricketing skills on display in Bangalore and Kochi. "Aggression doesn't mean sledging or giving personal barrage, it is having a presence on the field and playing good, aggressive cricket," Ponting said. "They are the ones who have come out and made all the statements since we've been here, this new India and the new aggressive outlook, the way they are going to play. "That is not the way they generally play their cricket, so they have put on some sort of a brave face. We will go and play the best aggressive cricket we can and leave all the talking to the Indians. We have played some great cricket. I am looking forward to playing some better cricket." Despite the altercations involving Sreesanth, Brad Haddin, Symonds and Harbhajan, Ponting said that "nobody stepped out of the line". "I think both teams were right on the limit the other day and the referee made that pretty clear to us after the game. Both sides were right on the edge. As long as cricket is played in the right way and everyone knows where the line is, it is okay. It is up to us as a playing group and the two captains to make sure everyone is playing in the spirit of the game." George Binoy is an editorial assistant on Cricinfo © Cricinfo

Arey yaar mods can you move this to the cricket forum

[yoda]

assies getting a taste of their own medicine. one important ingredient missing from india - performance on the field.

[MundaPakistani]

assies getting a taste of their own medicine. one important ingredient missing from india - performance on the field.

:haha:...

[Ram]

assies getting a taste of their own medicine. one important ingredient missing from india - performance on the field.

I hereby crown Yoda as the King of Sarcasm/Cynicism ! :haha:

[Rahul Khan]

assies getting a taste of their own medicine. one important ingredient missing from india - performance on the field.

its a :finger: to australia... well said - rightly said...!

[Guest dada_rocks]

Ganguly made a saint out of Steve Waugh hope these guys do some intelleigent sledig like him which ticks aussies off..... Bring Ganguly in he knows how to give it to these morons

[Chandan]

Now Yuvraj says that the team would perform on the field rather than get involved in arguments with the Aussies. Confident of levelling the series against Australia in the third one-day international to be played in Hyderabad on Friday, Indian vice captain Yuvraj Singh said the team would perform on the field rather than get involved in arguments with the opposition. He told reporters on Thursday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium that pacer Sreesanth had been asked to control himself on the field and focus on his bowling. Yuvraj was replying to queries about Sreesanth's spat with the Australians during the second one-day at Kochi earlier this week. "Sreesanth needs to control his antics on the field and focus more on the game. He is aggressive but we have spoken to him about what he needs to do. I hope in the next game he will play more of cricket than do more of talking," Yuvraj said. Australia lead the seven match series 1-0 after the first one-dayer at Bangalore was rained off. Yuvraj, who played a key role in India's win in the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa last month, was confident of levelling the series despite the huge 84-run loss at Kochi. Contending that one loss did not mean the team should be written off, he added: "We will try and come back strongly. Things did not go our way in Kochi while they (the Australians) executed their plans very well." The left-hander felt that India would need to get good partnerships and bowl well to win. "We haven't bowled well after the first 30 overs in both games but it is not about slow bowlers or fast bowlers. You have to keep picking wickets to stay in the game," Yuvraj maintained. He said a decision was yet to be taken on whether former skipper Sourav Ganguly would play Friday's match. Ganguly pulled his hamstring while fielding in the Bangalore match and is currently under treatment. "The pitch looks like a good batting track but we will need to look at the pitch again in the morning. You can expect some changes in the batting order if we bat first, but it obviously depends on the situation tomorrow," Yuvraj said. Yuvraj, who had hit a century against South Africa in the first match played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in 2005, said every game would be different but he hoped to do well. Asked whether the presence of a coach would have made a difference, Yuvraj said: "We have not played consistently in this series but there is nothing lacking in us nor are we missing a coach." -------------------------------------------------------- I'm waiting Yuvi.

[Lurker]

So now this moron has the galls to tell how Indians play their cricket?? Good to see the young brigade has atleast ticked him enough so as to make him stop commenting. I would still want the young guns to go after these Aussie brigands. Sure I also want them to perform well but how the heck are the two related anyway? Would we much rather have humble atitude(which is exactly what Ponting means when he says this is not the way Indians play their cricket) and get defeated? I say go all guns ablaze. You win some you lose some..its a game afterall.

[veer]

There should be a method to madness.. if our players want to sledge.. co-ordinate how we need to sledge.. soo lets see who sledges from our team.. SS, bhajji, Yuvi.. Robin may be.. when SS bowling, he doesnt need to go overboard on staring.. let yuvi or robin do the talking and let them sledge at that time.. when bhajji is bowling... give SS chance to sledge and play head game.. bowlers, during their spell, should fully concentrate on bowling and get the batter out.. if SRT, RD and Dhoni dont wanna sledge.. let them stay away but should not stop others from banters.. again this is only against Ozzies..

[Lurker]

There should be a method to madness.. if our players want to sledge.. co-ordinate how we need to sledge.. soo lets see who sledges from our team.. SS, bhajji, Yuvi.. Robin may be.. when SS bowling, he doesnt need to go overboard on staring.. let yuvi or robin do the talking and let them sledge at that time.. when bhajji is bowling... give SS chance to sledge and play head game.. bowlers, during their spell, should fully concentrate on bowling and get the batter out.. if SRT, RD and Dhoni dont wanna sledge.. let them stay away but should not stop others from banters.. again this is only against Ozzies..

Good strategy. Yes dont just go kamikaze, have a method behind it.. Also no need to be in-your- face every 2balls, do it when needed but dont be tagged freaking lunatic.

[fineleg]

Dhoni and Team India: All this is good, but can we first win a match please? These may be independent of each other (sledging and winning), but pls. focus on the latter. Our ODI ranking is very poor, and so far, rightly so! Pls. turn it around first.

[kumble_rocks]

Got to agree with Yuvraj here. He sledges back to only those who sledge him and plays his cricket hard and aggressively. Sreesanth should learn a thing or two from him about controlled aggression.

[Gaurav]

[coffee_rules]

Get the damn ball and bowl straight, is what I want to say Sree. Whatever you do after you do that....you have all the rights...

[BERGKAMP]

f - off ponting you prick.

[gs]

'We'll leave the talking to the Indians' - Ponting

I love this, we have succeeded in ruffling a few feathers here! Now can we please perform and win some games?!?!? :D

[Mandrake]

India needs to win against the Aussies.....do that and then tell Punter to shove it....walk the talk boys

[Rahul Khan]

India needs to win against the Aussies.....do that and then tell Punter to shove it....walk the talk boys

yes, and we need a thumping victory...again I repeat...

I believe, we must understand the aussies are the champions in ODI cricket as well as sledging the opponents to victimize them of psychological pressure and demoralize them...so that they can prevail and catch them in their clutches...to squeeze them for grabbing victory! In these circumstances, instead of going wild and aggressive we need to learn to tackle their dirty weapon with some kinda strong psyche...induce fire in our game with no emotions on faces...which is really hard to understand and practice...but this will be a deadly device to check their sledging strategy.