Australian captain satisfied with preparations

We will rely on the depth in our squad - Gilchrist

Jamie Alter in Bangalore

September 28, 2007

Adam Gilchrist: "We were probably caught short at the T20 tournament but there's no excuse now." © Getty Images

Ahead of what has all the makings of a competitive one-day international between India and Australia, Adam Gilchrist believes his side are well prepared. Australia were knocked out of the ICC World Twenty20 by India in a tight semi-final but as Gilchrist put it, there was no excuse here.

"We're very excited about it, it's great to be here and having some cricket under out belts. We feel like we'll be ready to go tomorrow," he said before Australia's practice session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. "We have enough preparation leading into this series. We were probably caught short at the T20 tournament but there's no excuse now. We know the conditions well here and with the amount of networking we've done we should be good to go."

Australia are without Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson and Nathan Bracken due to injuries and personal leave. According to Gilchrist this was the time for Australia to fall back on their greatest strength - depth. "We definitely have to rely on the depth in our squad. We have six changes in this, our first ODI since the World Cup, owing to retirement and injuries and babies being born. We've got a few new faces which not a lot of people would have seen a lot of, and we're confident about them."

Australia have often engaged in a war of words before tough series. Ponting has said that the pressure is right back on India and the return of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid might work in Australia's favour as they've played against the three many times. Andrew Symonds too felt that there was too much celebration after India's triumphant return from South Africa.

Was this a deliberate plan? "No, it's far from a plan to get verbal," said Gilchrist. "There's been a lot of focus on the fiery nature of the Indian players in that semi-final and I think they're going to continue playing that like. And that's fine; we expect that. If you don't have a bit of fire in the belly as a fast bowler I think you're already sort of half-knocked as a team. It doesn't matter what you say, you've got to back it up with good cricket. And India did that throughout the T20 tournament. We've been doing that for the last ten years."

When questioned as to whether Australia saw any perceived threat from India, Gilchrist shot back his reply. "Definitely there's plenty of threat. As you saw they knocked us out of the Twenty20 final," he said. "They play with great passion and energy and they'll be relying on all those same qualities in the next seven games. We're expecting them to come out full of confidence and that's a great challenge."

Gilchrist said he had a brief look at the surface and expected it to play out well for the batsmen and bowlers. "It has been a good track in the past. We've played Test and ODI cricket here and scored runs so we've got fond memories. It looks like it'll come through nicely again."

If Australia are reading from their stand-in captain's script, then its business as usual as the seven-match contest gets underway.

Jamie Alter is an editorial assistant on Cricinfo

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