India vice-captain Rahul Dravid is hoping his team will overcome the rigours of a tough campaign Down Under and rise to the occasion in the finals of the triangular series against Australia next week.
"When you are in the finals I don't think it is tough. When you are representing your country it is not tough at all," he said, after the Indians beat the Australian Prime Minister's XI by one run in a festival cricket match in Canberra on Wednesday.
Recently-retired Australian skipper Steve Waugh, who led the PM's XI, made no secret of his disappointment at losing his last match against a touring Indians, before a strong 11,000 crowd, saying he has probably lost his "intensity".
"It was not the result today. The result was irrelevant, but when you get inside, both sides want to win.
"I have probably lost my intensity; there have been lot of distractions," said a dejected Waugh.
Asked who he thought would win the tri-series, Waugh said the team which "holds on to its catches" will have a better chance of winning.
Dravid praised the young guns in the side who filled in for the many seniors who are nursing injuries.
"There have been a lot of injuries but a lot of young guys have come in and performed very well," he said.
A case in point today was Delhi medium-pacer Amit Bhandari, who, in his first match on the tour, was asked to bowl the final over, with the Prime Minister's XI needing only seven runs from it for victory.
"He bowled well under pressure. It is not easy to bowl the last over. He showed a lot of experience of what he has done in domestic cricket," said Dravid.
Hemang Badani is another player who did not get much batting in the six matches India played in the VB Series. But today, coming in at number three, he scored an eye-catching hundred.
"Since I have got to Australia I have not been batting much. I was put in at number three today and did my best," said Badani.
Waugh, who failed with the bat, scoring just seven runs before he was caught by Irfan Pathan off Murali Kartik, said he would have loved to pick some runs today.
"I would have loved to get more runs but Kartik had a great over and it has been an excellent Indian side."
Waugh felt his counterpart Dravid might have been tempted to bring on a medium-pacer when he came on to bat.
"I think he did think about bringing on a medium-fast bowler," said Waugh, as Dravid had a hearty laugh.
Waugh refused to be drawn into the controversy surrounding Australia's tour of Zimbabwe in May.
"It is a bigger situation than mere cricket. It is up to the government and I don't think I am qualified to comment on it."
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