Rival skippers Steve Waugh of Australia and India's Sourav Ganguly refused to concede the pressure was on their respective teams on the eve of the third cricket test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Waugh said Australia will not panic following India's series-controling win at Adelaide, and will continue to play attacking cricket for the remainder of the four-test series.
"I think there will be more pressure on India," said Waugh.
"They are in front, [and] they probably didn't expect to be ... their record wasn't good away from home. Now they have an opportunity to win a series and people in India will expect them to win from here.
"So, I'd like to think it is the other way round, there is more pressure on them. We can relax and go out there and play our brand of cricket."
Australia trails the series 1-0 after India pulled off a surprise four-wicket win in Adelaide last week. It is the first time Australia has trailed in a test series at home in a decade.
The win put India in a good position to force its first series win in Australia in eight attempts, and the first outside the subcontinent since beating England in 1986.
"We will play the same way [attacking] we have always played," said Waugh.
"Just because we messed up once with our batting, we are not going to change. Occasionally that is going to happen."
India will be strengthened by the return of leftarm fast bowler Zaheer Khan after missing the second test with a hamstring strain.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans