As the city woke up to a heavy cloud cover, intermittent drizzle and a misty morning, the lack of suspense about the result of the series wasn't the only reason the players didn't quite sweat buckets on the eve of the seventh and final ODI. The Aussies went through the ritual of warming up, padding up and marking their run-ups, but the weather would have tempted them to put their feet up after the six high-voltage games so far.
Later in the afternoon, the Indians had a similar approach, with the drizzle having intensified. With more rain forecast for Wednesday, there's a chance that the inconsequential match may just be washed out.
In the series so far, Australia captain Ricky Ponting has been a picture of concentration when it comes to preparing for a game. There have been days when his bat hasn't got any rest all through the session. A spate of injuries and an inexperienced squad made Ponting realise he couldn't afford to take chances. Such has been his impact on the series that it is tough to decide if it was Ponting the batsman or Ponting the captain who had a bigger role to play in Australia winning with a game to spare and sitting atop the world ODI rankings.
Finally, for the first time in the series Ponting looked relaxed. He jovially interacted with the net bowlers and joked with a top Australian rules football player who had dropped by. He even saw the lighter side of another mobile phone ringing at the media interaction, a common feature in the series that has annoyed the visitors with irritating regularity. As a cameraperson didn't heed the Aussie media manager's threat of a walkout and continued to speak on the phone, Ponting was still smiling. "I think it's his wife on the line," he said.
His opening answer hinted that the relaxed atmosphere at nets shouldn't be seen as an indicator that the Aussies will be complacent at the DY Patil Stadium on Wednesday. "We want to finish the tour on a very positive note. We've played some excellent cricket over the past few weeks and, while the series has been decided, it's certainly not over as far as we're concerned. To me 5-2 sounds a lot better than 4-3 does, so we're going to go ahead full steam," he said.
While Ponting the captain wants to motivate his team for one last push, the batsman in him would want to add to his batting contribution, which stands at 267 runs so far. For long, the leadership qualities of an Aussie captain have mostly been undervalued because of the presence of greats in the side. Ponting too hasn't been spared as even his World Cup triumphs have been attributed to presence of stars such asAdam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
But the Champions Trophy showed that even without big names, the Aussies are almost invincible. This series has shown that even their third-stringers can raise the level of the game.
Unlike the scoreline of the series or the possibility of the match on Wednesday, that's one thing which has no ambiguity about it.
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Watson, Johnson return home
Mumbai: Cricket Australia announced on Tuesday that, after consultations with the medical and coaching staff, Australian fast bowlerMitchell Johnson and all-rounder Shane Watson would fly home as part of their workload management ahead of the upcoming Australian summer and the tour of New Zealand in March. Chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said: "In view of the extremely heavy workload shouldered byMitchell Johnson and Shane Watson since the World Twenty20, and the Australian summer which includes six Tests in eight weeks against the West Indies and Pakistan and a tour to New Zealand early next year, the committee has decided Mitchell and Shane will depart India as soon as possible."
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