India have set up a very competitive series: Ian

Agencies

Posted online: Monday, February 11, 2008 at 1142 hrs IST

Melbourne, February 11:
Former Australian captain Ian Chappell has lauded India for matching up to Ricky Ponting's world champion side in the ongoing one-day series, saying the visitors have spiced up the tri-nation tournament with their competitiveness.

India beat Australia by five wickets on Sunday to go on top of the points table in the series also involving Sri Lanka and Chappell was all praise for the effort.

"... It was a tough win for India but a very good one... I think the message that they have also sent to Australia, if they were not aware of it before they certainly are now, that India really do believe that they can beat this Australian side and I think that it has set up, once again, a very competitive series between these two teams," Chappell said.

Australia came into the match after thumping Sri Lanka by 128 runs in their previous match and Chappell said India's win was an indication that the rivalry between the two teams was gaining momentum.

"They certainly have been the two teams that have competed the best and competed the hardest for a decade, and it's a rivalry that is not showing any signs of fading away," he was quoted as saying by the Cricinfo.

Chappell described the Indian bowling as "magnificent" at the MCG and appreciated Ishant Sharma's never-say-die spirit.

"I thought that the Indian bowling, particularly the three main quick bowlers were magnificent. Ishant Sharma, he is a very fast learner, and the good thing about today's performance was the fact that he took a bit of stick from Matthew Hayden early on -- couple of those shots were a bit lucky, they were edged over the top of the slips.