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Ponting highly satisfied with century

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

Ishant, praised by the Australian skipper, feels the situation is evenly balanced

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

GONE! Australian opener Simon Katich looks back to see Indian ’keeper M.S. Dhoni ready to pouch the nick off an Ishant Sharma delivery on the first day of the opening Test on Thursday.

Bangalore: “Harbhajan Singh has dismissed Ricky Ponting eight times,” flashed the digital screen as the Aussie skipper squared up to the off-spinner in the morning.

But in the end despite succumbing to Harbhajan in the evening, Ponting strode back to the pavilion knowing fully well that he had marginally repaired a resume that lacked runs in India so far. Ponting described his 123 as a “satisfying achievement” while talking to the media on Thursday evening.

“My record in India has been poor and I had to prove a point to a few. This is my first hundred here and it was as satisfying as any hundred and hopefully there will be a couple of more hundreds around the corner.

No extra pressure

“I have played Harbhajan and Kumble many times over the years and I guess I am getting used to them. Out here I backed my defensive technique and did not put any extra pressure on myself,” Ponting said besides mentioning Greg Chappell’s influence on batting technique.

Ponting said that he was a bit puzzled when the ball ballooned and Anil Kumble’s subsequent appeal for caught and bowled. “When I hit it, I hit it on the full and I thought it will dribble to Anil but the next second I saw him take it inches off his face and I felt something wasn’t right, I couldn’t figure that out but I think it hit the ground, I hit it on the full,” Ponting said about the lone blemish in his innings.

The Aussie skipper said that his team was in a good position. “We consolidated in the middle after losing the early wicket though in the last session we lost two wickets quickly — Clarke and myself. It is a good effort though and it was satisfying to get runs when the team needed it.

“250 plus for four is a good score on the first day considering the wicket was a bit slow and they had kept the sweeper on the fence and at square and the ball also got soft early on, so there was not much of boundaries to be scored.

“We have Watson and White coming in and we should get some good runs on the board. I am looking forward to the second day’s events,” Ponting said.

Ponting also praised Ishant Sharma, who tested him in the morning session. “Ishant is a good bowler and Katich and I wanted to see through the new ball. I played him defensively but once I got used to the bounce and pace, I played a few shots.

“He bowled a long first spell and is stronger and fitter than what he was in Australia. As long as he stays fit he will continue to trouble many International cricketers,” Ponting said.

The last time Ishant spoke to the media at Bangalore was after his first five-wicket haul in Tests, which came against Pakistan during the match here in December 2007.

And now after making rapid progress over the last one year, with a spell against Ponting at Perth being the highlight, Ishant strode in for the press conference with his strange mix of confidence and diffidence. His words were few but there was no mistaking the underlying optimism.

Improved position

“Our position improved a bit after we took that last wicket — Michael Clarke. The wicket is quite slow and it is not easy to bowl and you need patience. At this moment, the match is neither in our favour nor in Australia’s,” Ishant said.

“I bowled well and on this slow pitch, you need to bowl in the right areas. When you bowl cross seam sometimes the ball rises but sometimes it stays low. The wicket will be up and down but if we take two early wickets tomorrow morning and get them out around 300, it would be good,” he added.

Asked about Ponting’s century and its contrast to the way he played Ishant in Australia, the lanky speedster said: “It feels great bowling to him because he is my favourite batsman. Everyone has a bad day and just because he had one in Australia, you cannot say he is a bad batsman. He performed really well today.”

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