India urged to stop Gilchrist

2004-01-07 10:17

Melbourne, Australia - Batsman VVS Laxman says Adam Gilchrist is the man India must stop if it is to repeat its winning Test performance in the triangular one-day series that begins on Friday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Gilchrist was a key factor in Australia's Cricket World Cup (CWC) win and international series win in India in 2003.

With both Australia and India entering the one-dayers against Zimbabwe with injury-depleted bowling attacks, batsmen could hold the key.

"There are some key batsmen in the Australian team and especially Adam, he is a very attacking player and a very positive player, so it's important to get him early on," Laxman said ahead of Friday's opener against Australia.

India has unfinished business after heavily losing two finals to Australia in 2003, including the RWC.

"Winning in a crunch situation is very important for us. It was unfortunate we lost the RWC final, but I felt the Australians played really well there," Laxman said.

He was coy on the use of a limited bowling attack in the series.

Spinner Anil Kumble opened the bowling in the Sydney Test and, asked if he may do so in the limited-overs matches, Laxman said: "That is something that the team will be working on."

"It's unfortunate that we're missing Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan due to injuries but the bowlers over here are looking forward to performing for the team."

Zimbabwe had the best preparation of the three countries for the upcoming series, having a succession of one-day tuneup games.

But Laxman felt Australia and India's disadvantage in terms of preparation was balanced by having played tests against each other over the past month.

"We are tuned up in the sense that when you play Test cricket, you play against a similar attack that is going to play in the one-day series," Laxman said.

"It was a great effort (in the drawn test series) and we're looking forward to carrying that into the one-day series." - AP

- SAPA