Mindset thing for India: Hayden on India’s drought

New Delhi: Matthew Hayden reckons India’s title drought in ICC events in the past decade has to come down to the players’ mindset as skill was never an issue and has advised them to “forget about the outcome”. India’s last ICC title came under the leadership of MS Dhoni back in 2013. Since then the team has fallen short in high-pressure knock-out games including the 2017 Champions Trophy final against Pakistan, the 2019 ODI World Cup semifinal versus New Zealand and more recently, the T20 World Cup semifinal against England last year. In the inaugural WTC final two years ago, India finished runners-up to New Zealand.

Back Smith in final: Finch
London: Aaron Finch believes that he will put his money on Steve Smith even though Australia will also need to get rid of star India batter Virat Kohli as early as possible. “Both (Kohli and Smith) will be batting at number four, so the key is to try and get them as early as possible,” Finch said. 

Used to the Dukes ball by now: Axar
Portsmouth: Switching from playing T20s to the longest format of the game is difficult but practising with the red ball through the IPL will help in the tough transition, feels India all-rounder Axar Patel. “We knew about this before the start of the IPL. So even during the IPL, it was discussed that we will bowl with the red ball,” Axar told ICC. 

Australia will be talking about Pujara: Ponting
London: Australia will have to guard against the “thorn in their side” Cheteshwar Pujara and a “back at his best” Virat Kohli if they are to counter India, feels Ricky Ponting. “The Australian team will be talking about Virat, no doubt about it, and they’ll be talking about Pujara. They’re the two,” Ponting said on ‘The ICC Review’. Pujara is known to relish the challenges thrown at him by Australian bowlers.