Barbados, May 6: On the eve of their crucial Super Eights match, Australian skipper Michael Clarke is not unduly worried by the presence of quality spinners in the Indian ranks, saying his batsmen are equipped to negotiate them.
“India have got a lot of talent and they are a great side. They have some good spinners. Harbhajan is a world class bowler. But then every team plays spinners differently and we are not perturbed. We have batsmen who can play spin pretty well. We will see how it goes tomorrow,” Clarke said on the eve of the crucial match.
India have a flock of spinners in Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja and part-timers Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh who have proved effective in the past. The Aussie skipper though feels that spin bowling would play a big role in the tournament but sees equal opportunities for the fast bowlers and spinners as far as Friday’s clash is concerned.
“Spin bowling is going to play a big part in the tournament. We saw in our win against Bangladesh that the spinners turned the ball a bit. So we can anticipate captains use their spin bowlers more often in the Twenty20 format. “The wicket here is good and the ground is wonderful. It is a lot different from the one we played in St. Lucia. But the nature of the wicket would be of no consequence as the result of the match depends on how the bowlers bowl and how the batters bat.
“It depends on how the bowlers use the conditions and execute their skills. So, we are not thinking too about the wicket right now,” averred Clarke, adding “a score of 140 to 150 was defendable.”
Clarke was satisfied with his team’s performance in the group matches, where Australia kept a clean slate by beating Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“In the last two games we have done pretty well. We came back into the match against Bangladesh after losing six wickets for nothing. We are enjoying our cricket at the moment.
Clarke said his boys were ready for the showdown in the Super Eights.
“We have trained hard and our preparation has been spot on. We will focus on one match at a time and do not want to look too far into the future. We want to keep our game simple and not worry too much about what India could do,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 6 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 6 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 7 May 2010 00:00:00 IST