Indians victims of Ponting act

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript" src="Config?Configid=43376741"></script></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -3"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="32.8%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e6e6e6=""> <div class="Normal"><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/cms.dll/articleshow?msid=280051" target="_blank"><img src="/photo/282092.cms" alt="/photo/282092.cms" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/cms.dll/articleshow?msid=280051" target="_blank">Ricky Ponting</a></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">NEW DELHI: Javed Miandad''s last-ball six off Chetan Sharma at Sharjah cast such a spell on the Indians that it took them a long time to recover from that.Years later, Ricky Ponting''s blitzkrieg in the World Cup final against India is threatening to leave just the same impression on the Indian bowlers.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">That probably negates the only advantage the Indians have against the world champions -- Sachin Tendulkar. During their last visit to India, Tendulkar tormented the Australian bowlers so much that leg-spinner Shane Warne, after returning home, said he was having nightmares. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Indian bowlers seem to be going through the same ordeal. After Ponting put them to the sword in the World Cup final, the bowling department is getting the jitters at the sight of the butchers from Down Under. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Call them butchers for their treatment of the sub-continent''s best bowlers has been no less than butchery. </span><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal">In the second match of the ongoing one-day series, Indian bowlers snared the two openers at the score of 55. Ponting too departed at 93. However, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds and Michael Bevan got into the act, helping the Kangaroos reach 286. At no point in time did they look in any sort of trouble.<br /><br />If one thought things couldn''t get any worse, Bangalore was an eye opener. Gilchrist made mincemeat of the pacers, spinners and the part-timers for 111 runs (104 balls). Ponting, who came next, was even more brutal. He was in no mood for boundaries. His 103-ball knock of 108 was peppered with seven sixes. In between the Australian skipper found enough time to help himself with a four.<br /><br />What makes this bunch of cricketers special is not that they score runs heavily. Or fast. But that they do both. That they do so with comfortable ease. Without a flinch of the eye. <br /><br />These are worries for skipper Ganguly. So is the timidity of the Indian bowlers. For if they do not recover from the hypnotic daze, the upcoming tour Down Under would be much more than ''gruelling''.</div> </div>