Dhoni not interested in settling scores

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is determined to concentrate on winning against Australia

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has denied claims India will look to settle any perceived grudges against Australia when their Test series begins in Bangalore next week.

Much hype surrounds the four-Test series after the two nations were involved in a tetchy ‘Bollyline Series’ in Australia earlier this year.

That controversy-plagued series was highlighted by India’s threat to leave the tour early after a Sydney Test that saw their spinner Harbhajan Singh banned for three matches for an alleged racist remark directed at Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds.

While Harbhajan’s ban was later lifted on appeal, prompting the Indians to stay, ill feeling between the teams remained with both sides unhappy with the spirit the series, which Australia won 2-1, was played in.

Rather than dwell on the controversial past, Dhoni has called on the home side to focus on winning their battles out on the field as they go in search of a first series win against Australia since 2001.

“Rather than getting desperate and wanting to settle scores out there, it is better to take it match by match, do our goals day by day and session by session, play consistent cricket over the five days," he said.

“It's not about settling things because in that case you get desperate and that can affect your game.”

Dhoni concedes the hype surrounding the series has intensified in recent days, but he believes it has been the closeness of their recent battles, rather than the controversies, that are the reason for that.

Australia ended their 35-year drought in India when they last visited four years ago, while the Indians played well despite losing earlier this year - grabbing a rare Test win in Perth in the process.

“The hype has a lot to do with what happened when they came to India (in 2004-05): they did well here in the Test matches," Dhoni said.

“And again the hype was created when we went there and we played well.

“There was a good game of cricket, and people expect that (again) and that's why all the hype is created. We have really done well at home, people expect good, competitive cricket as well as some aggression on the field. That's why there are so many expectations about an India-Australia series.”

Ricky Ponting suggested a 'catching pact' but India's Anil Kumble rejected the idea

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Australia captain Ricky Ponting also sought to play down the differences between the teams, and even floated the idea that he and India skipper, Anil Kumble, could come to an agreement over accepting the fielder’s word in disputed catches.

That ideal was one of the factors that caused controversy in Sydney, following some debatable decisions, and Ponting admitted he did not expect Kumble to agree to such a pact.

"I will have a think about it over the next couple of days and see if I think it is the right idea to bring it up again,” Ponting said.

"Anil (Kumble) was the one who didn't want that (agreement on accepting the fielder’s word) after the Sydney Test for one reason or the other.

“It's like flogging the dead horse, to tell the truth. I go to every referee meeting before a series wanting to play the game like that, but almost every other captain in the world is not interested.”

Talk of Australia’s golden era coming to an end has also been rife ahead of the series with the world champions showing just four players in their squad to have played Test cricket in India before - Ponting, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden and Simon Katich.

The Australians have seen a number of their stars retire over the past two years, however, Ponting was at pains to point out his team remain a force having not lost a Test series since the Ashes in 2005.

“Even in the last twelve or 18 months, when we were missing senior players, we have shown that our cricket is good enough to beat everybody," he said.

“We know the Indians will play well here and at the moment, they are the more experienced side than us, but if you look at the last series, where we were rebuilding, we were still able to play a brand of cricket that was good enough to win that series.”