Sports
Clarke credits Dhoni for Indian team's redemption
Australian captain Michael Clarke on Wednesday lauded the efforts of his
Indian counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni in turning things around for
his team, as they wait to battle in the high-voltage cricket World Cup
semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) here on Thursday.
"They've
played so much cricket in Australia. They've worked out how to take
wickets. They've worked out how to score runs, and they've shown that
through this tournament," Clarke said at the post-match press
conference.
"I think MS Dhoni deserves a lot of credit for the
way he's captained his team, especially being defeated in the Test
series and the Tri-Series to be able to turn things around," the
right-handed batsman added.
"Obviously, they're at the top of
their game at the moment. So, we're prepared for that. We know we're
playing against a very good team that obviously won the last World Cup.
We look forward to that challenge."
Speaking on India’s poor
record at the SCG over the years, Clarke said he was surprised about the
rivals' success rate but said it was an advantage playing on the home
turf.
“I thought they would have had a better success rate at the
SCG than that, so that does surprise me. But it probably does show how
Australia loves playing in their own backyard," the 33-year-old said.
"It's
no different when we go to India. It's one of the hardest places in the
world to win. You take the same two teams into different conditions and
things change," he added.
“That is a part of home ground
advantage. But I said at the start of this tournament that I thought
India were going to be one of the toughest teams to beat.â€
Asked
about the Indian team looking like a very different side than what they
were in the Tri-series, he said, “They look exactly the same to me.
They're just playing some really good cricket. We've played a lot of
cricket against India."
"We know their strengths. We know their
weaknesses, and we know they're a very good team. We have to execute our
skills as well as we possibly can, and if we do that, I have confidence
that we can beat any team we play against," the Australian skipper
signed off.
The winner of the contest will face New Zealand in the final on March 29 at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).