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New Delhi: In twelve matches at the Feroze Shah Kotla here, India have won seven and lost five, but history will count for little in this game. It's a newly laid pitch and has been the centre of all attention as both teams hunt for the series lead.
After a thumping win in Nagpur, MS Dhoni's team come to Delhi as the favourites. The second game was a near perfect performance, but winning by 99 runs against the world's top ranked team doesn't happen everyday. Saturday, however, presents a new challenge.
"(The wicket) is a bit on the slower side, it was keeping low, it was turning a lot," said Dhoni on the eve of the match. "So it's very difficult to set a target. But what you can do as a team is to get off to a good start. After the Champions League the curators have had some time to give to the wicket, and maybe it will be a better wicket."
The pitch has been the focus of intense attention over the last few days, having provided far from ideal conditions in the Champions League T20 just a couple of weeks ago. Already smarting from the pull-out of Brett Lee, whose elbow has failed to recover, Ponting faced another headache. The practice facilities he felt were inadequate for his team to prepare.
"When we turned up here in the morning, for some reason the practice wickets had been watered. We didn't get a chance to train this morning," a bemused Ponting said.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and that is the case with the newly laid Kotla pitch. After two run feasts in Vadodara and Nagpur, this pitch sets a different kind of a challenge. Here, batsmen will need skill and temperament to survive, and for a change, bowlers may dominate the batsmen.
New Delhi: In twelve matches at the Feroze Shah Kotla here, India have won seven and lost five, but history will count for little in this game. It's a newly laid pitch and has been the centre of all attention as both teams hunt for the series lead.
After a thumping win in Nagpur, MS Dhoni's team come to Delhi as the favourites. The second game was a near perfect performance, but winning by 99 runs against the world's top ranked team doesn't happen everyday. Saturday, however, presents a new challenge.
"(The wicket) is a bit on the slower side, it was keeping low, it was turning a lot," said Dhoni on the eve of the match. "So it's very difficult to set a target. But what you can do as a team is to get off to a good start. After the Champions League the curators have had some time to give to the wicket, and maybe it will be a better wicket."
The pitch has been the focus of intense attention over the last few days, having provided far from ideal conditions in the Champions League T20 just a couple of weeks ago. Already smarting from the pull-out of Brett Lee, whose elbow has failed to recover, Ponting faced another headache. The practice facilities he felt were inadequate for his team to prepare.
"When we turned up here in the morning, for some reason the practice wickets had been watered. We didn't get a chance to train this morning," a bemused Ponting said.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and that is the case with the newly laid Kotla pitch. After two run feasts in Vadodara and Nagpur, this pitch sets a different kind of a challenge. Here, batsmen will need skill and temperament to survive, and for a change, bowlers may dominate the batsmen.
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