Sports | Posted on Oct 17, 2007 at 12:49pm IST

After Oz drubbing, India play for pride in Mumbai

Roma Khanna, CNN-IBN

Mumbai: The last time the India team was in Mumbai, it was given an unforgettable reception following the Twenty20 World Championship win.

Now the team has returned after being vanquished in the One-Day series by Australia and it's the last chance for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men to prove that they can stand up against the rampaging world champions.

Also for former skipper Rahul Dravid the wheel seems to have turned a full circle. As the series winds down, his place in the team that he led till very recently has come under scrutiny.

But the man who has taken over from Dravid as captain isn't prepared to give up on his predecessor.

"Yes, he is having a tough time. But it is with all the batsmen. It is not that only he is having a tough time. In the past it has happened to Sachin, to me and many other batsmen," Dhoni says of Dravid's form.

The lack of runs from Dravid's bat isn't Dhoni's only headache. Even as another felicitation ceremony celebrated their Twenty20 triumph, the One-Day combination is far from settled.

So even though the series may be over, there is plenty to play for. After all a scoreline of 4-2 sounds a fair bit better than 5-1.

"One day we are very good in batting, the other day we are very good in bowling department and fielding. So we have to club all of them together and if we can do better in all the departments then I think that is the key to success," India's manager Lalchand Rajput said at the pre-match press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday.

But the One-Day world champions have no intention of taking their foot off the pedal.

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting knows the nightmare of the Twenty20 World Championship loss has been left behind and his team is living up to the tag of world champions.

"We didn't play our best in Twenty20 but since then I don't think we could have done much more. We have played some excellent cricket probably highlighted by the last couple of games. I think it has been some of our best cricket in the last two games," a confident Ricky Ponting says.

India may have lost the series but going into the last match of the series, they have a lot to play. They need to reduce the margin of defeat and prove to their doubting fans that Australia can be beaten.

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