India skipper Sourav Ganguly is expecting the Australians to come hard at them in the Melbourne cricket Test but said his team, fired by the motivation to win the series, is ready for a counter-attack.
"They [the Aussies] have not been in this position before," Ganguly said on Sunday, referring to the fact that Australia have never trailed in a home series under Steve Waugh's captaincy.
"If we want to win the series we would have to match them. That is why we rested key players in this game. We want them to be fresh for the Melbourne Test (December 26-30)," Ganguly told reporters in Hobart, after the three-day match between India and Australia 'A' ended in a draw.
"We are in a good position in the series and don't get such opportunities often. It is up to us to get our things right for the next Test."
India pulled off a shock win in the Adelaide Test to take a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series and are eyeing their first ever series victory outside the subcontinent.
Ganguly also clarified that he had been misquoted in certain sections of the Australia media vis-a-vis his comments that the Indians had it in them to replace Australia as the best side in the world in future.
The Indian skipper's comment was interpreted as tall-speak in media, prompting Ricky Ponting to comment that "one win alone does not make India the best".
"I don't know what people understood when I said we wanted to be at the top," he said. "We are not the number one. Number one is Australia."
The way they have played over the last five years has been phenomenal. They have won 16 Tests in a row, winning a World Cup without conceding a game; these are huge successes," said Ganguly.
"We want to look at the top because that is the way we can go forward. You also have to give us credit that if any side has competed well against Australia it has been India.
"That is a good sign for us. We are a young side; there are a lot of careers starting in this team. If we can compete with the best side in the world, we should be getting to a stage where we can also be termed as a very, very strong side. But then, we have got some high standards to match.
"As a young team we want to be close to what Australia has done. But we also know it requires tremendous consistency. That is what has stood out for them. You can win a game but winning 16 Tests in a row, 11 one-dayers in succession is different.
"That is what I said. We have the ingredients and that is what we hope to become. I am not stupid enough to say we are the number one side in the world. If people read between the lines, I can't help it."
Ganguly felt the gains from the drawn game was the performance of Lakshmipathy Balaji, Deep Dasgupta and Akash Chopra.
"Balaji bowled well and that is one of the gains from this game as our fast bowling options are still open. This is the best I have seen him bowl in this series. Deep looked good in both the innings. As for Chopra, he has been doing a good job. He gave us good starts in Adelaide and in Brisbane in the first Test; that is what we are looking at.
"One of the key things in Australia is to see the new ball through. Akash does help in taking the shine off the ball. I am sure he would convert his starts into a big knock soon."
Ganguly defended his decision to allow Parthiv Patel and Murali Kartik to bat for long in the middle on the second afternoon instead of declaring the innings, saying he wanted his bowlers to be fresh in the second innings.
"We wanted to have hits in the middle. Sachin [Tendulkar] had a good hit, so did Akash and Parthiv. We also wanted to make sure our bowlers are fresh in the second innings," he said.
