The Hindu : Sport : Anything is possible, says Clarke

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Saturday, Dec 29, 2007
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Anything is possible, says Clarke

Melbourne: Michael Clarke, who top-scored with 73 on the third day of the first Test, said the track at the Melbourne Cricket Ground required patience and discipline to wear batsmen down.

“It will be about building pressure,” said Clarke of Australia’s plans on Saturday. “I’d like to say no, they (India) won’t be able to chase this, but anything is possible. They have a fantastic batting line-up and if they play positively they do have 180 overs to do it (chase 499) in. But, I think the game can be over tomorrow as well.”

Reverse swing, Clarke said, would be toughest to handle on day four.

“All our three quicks bowl good reverse swing, and they are probably the only ones who can swing it both ways. It’s not really easy to play as both Zaheer and R.P. (Singh) showed today (Friday).”

‘Here to win’

Harbhajan Singh said India was “here to win the series”, when asked how the side will approach the remainder of the Test. “It takes time for people to adjust, to bat and bowl (on Australian tracks),” said Harbhajan. “We didn’t get many practice games. That was the reason we got out in the first innings.”

The off-spinner, however, stopped short of blaming the Indian board.

“It would have been nice to play two or three games, but we can’t complain. We just finished against Pakistan. Whatever time we had here we tried to utilise indoor, outdoor. The boys are up for it.”

Great moment

Harbhajan said he bowled slower in the second innings than he had in the first. Ricky Ponting’s dismissal took Harbhajan to 250 Test wickets.

“It was a great moment, especially (because it came against) a great batsman,” he said. — Special Correspondent

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