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Ponting praises bowlers

Special Correspondent

Adelaide: Ricky Ponting said Australia was winning despite the side not playing to the best of its ability.

He described the dismissal of his counterpart M.S. Dhoni as the turning point of the match. "The game was in the balance at that stage and India had its nose in front," he said.

Asked about his own form, Ponting replied, "I’ve played better."

The Australian skipper said, "sometimes chasing small totals can be harder than chasing big ones."

Ponting conceded that a few key players in the side were out of form. "But we have other players putting their hands up. Michael Clarke did that today."

He complimented Mitchell Johnson and the rest of the pacemen for bowling splendidly in the absence of Brett Lee.

"This has been a one-day series dominated by the bowlers. And the pitches have been good. But the bowlers have had an upper-hand."

Prediction

Ponting said India was going through a re-building phase in ODI cricket. "In 12 months time, they could be doing so in Test cricket as well," he said.

Indian captain M.S. Dhoni was not willing to blame Rohit Sharma for his run-out but added such dismissals could be avoided in the coming matches. Rohit could have started better since the runner has a definite advantage.

Dhoni revealed his fitness concern, a bout of cramps, was not serious.

He also said Virender Sehwag would recover in time from a side strain for the match against Sri Lanka here.

The captain felt the youngsters should perform during adversity.

He admitted some of the batsmen were repeating mistakes. About India playing five bowlers again, he said it was a "50-50 situation."

No dropping Yuvraj

On Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni said "We will not rest him for now. He is a part of the team and will play all the games."

He did not believe sending Irfan Pathan at No. 3 was a mistake.

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