Faulkner gears up for big fight

All through the summer India couldn’t beat Australia even once in six completed international matches. Since the start of the World Cup, though, the defending champions have strung together seven successive wins. A dramatic turnaround? Hardly, if you are to listen to James Faulkner.

“Not at all,” said the Aussie all-rounder when asked if India’s winning streak has caught the hosts by surprise. India and Australia clash in the second semifinal here at the SCG on Thursday.

“The Tests started the summer off and in one-day cricket I am not at all surprised that they are doing well. Every time we have come up against them it has been a very good game of cricket and it has gone right down to the wire. If you go back on the Indian series when we were there, a lot of runs were scored and there were a lot of great chases. Likewise when we have played them here, we have scored 300 and been there and thereabouts while chasing it. They are a good opposition and we are looking forward to Thursday. I think it is going to be a great occasion,” Faulkner remarked.

The SCG, traditionally, has been kinder to spinners but not so much in the one-dayers. Though Imran Tahir and JP Duminy claimed seven wickets between them against Sri Lanka in the first quarterfinal here, the group match between Australia and the Lankans had seen both teams score in excess of 300 runs. Naturally, Faulkner didn’t appear too perturbed about not having spinners of the same quality as that of India even as the pitch for Thursday’s match was being rolled over again and again in a bid to make it harder.  

“I think they are world class spinners and they have done their job for a long time now,” Faulkner said of India’s spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. “Our team and our line-up don’t have that. We go in with a different team and we are playing in Australia. We will play our best 11. If you see the wicket against Sri Lanka, it didn’t spin and it was quite easy to get hold of. I am not sure what make-up they will go in with and not sure about the make-up of our side. It depends on the wicket and what is produced on game-day. I am expecting a lot of runs scored. If you look over the past between India and Australia whether we have played them over there in the ODI series in the recent ones or in Australia, you have seen a lot of runs. I think that is what will happen come the game-day,” he reasoned.

Faulkner conceded that India would get as much support as Australia if not more during the semifinal. “We were talking about it at dinner last night actually that the last game we played here definitely felt like that,” he said referring to a tri-series game on January 26 when it felt like an away game for Australia.

“Obviously the passion with the Indian fans showed towards their cricket team is sensational. The last time we played India here, it was a washout. The fans were unbelievable supporting India and I suppose everyone is excepting that.”