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Our young fast bowling unit responded brilliantly: Kumble

Special Correspondent

Adelaide: Anil Kumble, the Indian captain, said he was proud of his team for competing against Australia on level terms in the four-Test series.

“We probably play our best cricket against Australia,” said Kumble after the conclusion of the fourth Test here on Monday. “We play them not too far from now, in September this year. We’ve been travelling well for the last four or five years and done well everywhere. We certainly stepped our level up. Over the past five years, we have been the only team to defeat Australia twice in Australia.”

The rivalry has, since 2001, become the pre-eminent one in world cricket, irrespective of where the contests are staged. The head-to-head record reads 6-5 to Australia.

A slide imminent

Ricky Ponting, while acknowledging India as a tough rival, said the side might slide over the next 12 months. “Even though they’re the No. 2 ranked team in the world, they’re going to lose 4-5 of their top players pretty soon,” he said.

“They’re going to go through a phase that we’ve gone through over the last few months. It will be interesting to see how they back up from that.”

Kumble, who countered saying the ageing players Ponting referred to would stay around for a while, said India had its moments in the series.

“We came pretty close in Sydney and I really hoped we had batted for seven or eight minutes to get a draw in Sydney,” said Kumble. “But the Aussies played really well and credit should be given to them. Having said that I’m proud of the way we played.

“We didn’t come with our full strength bowling line-up and lost Zaheer Khan mid-way. Looking back I think the young fast bowling unit responded brilliantly. Ishant Sharma was probably the find of the series — he’s 19 and this was his first series in Australia. He impressed with both his aggression and attitude, troubling every batsman who came in.”

Brett Lee, who was adjudged the Man of the Series for his 24 wickets, said he had enjoyed leading the attack. “I really worked on my fitness after the World Cup, and that really helped. With Glenn (McGrath) and Shane (Warne) not there, it gave me an opportunity to step up. I’m really proud of the way I have responded so far.”

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