Australian captain Ricky Ponting feels India can beat Pakistan in the ICC World Cup semifinal
Australia cricket captain, Ricky Ponting feels India have the required firepower to outclass http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 adding that Dhoni and his men deserve
a World Cup win this time.
“…they will be pretty hard to beat,” reckoned Ponting at the post-match press conference after his men were knocked out of the prestigious tournament following a five-wicket defeat to co-hosts India. “They will beat http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the semifinal
and go on to win the World Cup now,” he added.
The 36-year-old hailed India’s batting line-up for the kind of performance they gave on Thursday. Ponting praised his team’s efforts as well and said that they also played competitive cricket but it was not their day. The Tasmanian batsman
further added that he was disappointed with the two successive defeats – one at the hands of Pakistan in their last group match and the other against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in Ahmedabad.
Ponting insisted that the unsuccessful World Cup campaign should not be interpreted as the end of an era in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 cricket.
“It's a bit premature to say it was the end of an era for Australian cricket,” said the veteran middle-order batsman. “It was a pretty good game tonight. I do not think we were far away from winning the game against a very good Indian team
on their home soil. I think it's a bit too early to say it's the end of an era,” he added further.
Ricky Ponting, who made his ODI debut in February 1995 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, has so far played 359 One Day Internationals compiling, 13,288 runs including 30 centuries and 79 half-centuries.
The 36-year-old agreed that this was his last World Cup appearance, however he denied quitting one-day cricket. Ponting played a pain-staking knock in the quarter-final, notching his 30th one-day century and said that after retirement
he would always feel good for securing a hundred in his last World Cup innings.
Ponting said that his team had chances to seal the deal in their favour but they failed to capitalise on the opportunities. He further added that not performing at the crucial moments cost them the game. He admitted that they did not execute
the plans properly.
Asked about the schedule of the show piece event, the Aussie skipper said that it could have been spread out better. However, he refused to blame the lengthy tournament’s schedule for his side’s poor performance in the last two games.
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