HAVING been knocked out of the World Twenty20 by India and on the losing end of their only other 20-over clash, Ricky Ponting says Australia have a score to settle.
Cricket’s shortest form is the only version in which Australia are not the world’s best, and one which, until recently, Ponting admitted they had not taken overly seriously.
But the success of last year’s World Cup and the concept’s immense and unwavering popularity - as evidenced by a crowd forecast of 85,000 for Friday night’s MCG clash - has sharpened Australia’s focus.
"After the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa when we all recognised the popularity of the game then I think we all have started to take a little bit more notice of it,” Ponting said.
"And with that I think everyone’s had a bit more chance to play some more Twenty20 cricket … this game, the way I feel about it anyway, it’s really grown on me.”
For a side not used to losing, India’s mastery of Australia in their only two previous Twenty20 meetings has upped the motivation level.
"India had the upper hand over everybody in the World Cup,” Ponting said.
"They played some excellent cricket through there and were deserved winners obviously of the Twenty20 world championship.
"They knocked us off in the semi-finals and they beat us in Mumbai before we came back here … so for us maybe there are some scores to settle.
"Maybe we do want to get out there and keep a really close eye on us and our Twenty20 cricket.
"We are going to be playing more of it and there’s definitely room for improvement for Australia.”
Ponting is also mindful of the possibility for the match to set the tone for the upcoming limited-overs tri-series, which also involves Sri Lanka.
He recalled his side’s Twenty20 thrashing by England at the start of their unsuccessful 2005 tour, which in hindsight he believes gave the hosts vital self-confidence before they wrested the Ashes from Australia.
"We turned up for a bit of a warm-up, hit-out sort of thing,” he said.
"England turned up really primed and trying to set a bit of an example on how they were going to play their cricket through the summer, so that caught us off-guard a little bit.
"I guarantee tomorrow that that won’t be the case, we won’t be caught off-guard at all, we’ll be going out there absolutely flat-out.”
Ponting arrived in Melbourne with some fitness doubts, after lower back pain which plagued him during the Adelaide Test continued to trouble him in the days since.
"I’ve been pretty much flat on my back for the last couple of days trying to give myself the best chance to recover,” he said.
But, after expressing doubts over whether he would be able to train, he stretched and jogged on Thursday under the eye of team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris before batting in the nets.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said while the visitors would be taking the match seriously, they also viewed it as a chance for those not in the Test squad to become accustomed to Australian conditions.
Nine of the 18-member squad have come just for the limited-overs matches.
Agence France-Presse