A lot of hard work to do, says Rixon

Steve Rixon.

Steve Rixon, the Australian cricket fielding coach, knows a thing or two about the mindset of the Indian captain M.S. Dhoni. He has spent many hours interacting with Dhoni at the Chennai Super Kings camp.

After a long session that ended with fielding drills at the Brabourne Stadium on Monday morning, Rixon said: “It is not just about knowing the players, but also knowing how to combat those players. Having been involved in the CLT20, we have seen the likes of Suresh Raina, Dhoni and also R. Ashwin. We still have to be able to combat them. We have plenty of hard work to do. The advantage is that we have got to see them regularly now. We have more chance of actually combating that.’’

Excerpts from the media conference :

On five Australian players in the CLT20 final: Coming into a series like this, you need performance. A lot more of the Indians have played in that tournament. That is the advantage of having everyone playing. We have been fortunate to have five of them in the final. We are in a reasonable position.

The aim is to get ready the players who have not been playing a lot of cricket.

Comparison between the Australian teams that won here in 2007 and 2009: It’s very hard to compare; conditions change, and a lot of things are variable. We have got guys playing T20 on a regular basis; back in 2007 it was not that regular, certainly not in Australia. The whole contest is a little bit different now.

Challenge for George Bailey: George is relatively new to captaincy. We are on a learning curve at the moment.

He has been very competitive with the job. He’s done it with distinction in T20 and he gets an opportunity to do it in a one-day competition.

Absence of Michael Clarke : You take Dhoni out, that probably answers the question.