New Delhi: Former skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes India were superior to Pakistan in every aspect of the game during their World Cup win in Adelaide but said they need to work more on their bowling and fielding before they take on title-contenders such as Australia and New Zealand.
"Australian have been in tremendous form and the way they played against England in the opening match is an indication as how confident they are, so they are the team to beat and also New Zealand," Gavaskar told.
"But India again has to look at their bowling. While they have done well, there are areas where they need to tighten up a little bit and if they can do that they will be able to restrict the opposition. But overall it was a satisfying performance today. They were superior to Pakistan in every aspect of the game," he said.
Talking about India's fielding, Gavaskar said: "India has a very good fielding unit when they are not trying to be flamboyant, when they are not trying to just throw at stumps for no rhythm and reasons. So that's an area where they have to look into because it can upset the bowler as at the end of the day it reflects on bowlers' figures. Otherwise, India has a good fielding side."
India under Mahendra Singh Dhoni today defeated Pakistan by 76 runs at Adelaide Oval in their World Cup opener to extend their unbeaten record against the arch-rivals to 6-0 in the quadrennial mega-event.
Ian Chappell, who had captained Australia between 1971 and 1975, was happy with India's performance but said they still need to prove that they can bowl under-fire against big teams.
"I think India have to prove that they can bowl well under-fire, ie, when they are attacked. I think that is where Australia got to them. Australia have an attacking bowling lineup both in Tests and ODIs. When a batsman gets out, the bowlers need to continue the same line and length and that is where India needs to prove themselves.
"I thought their bowling today was terrific, a big improvement on what we have seen so far in Australia."
The 71-year-old also lavished praise on off-spinner R Ashwin (1/41) and also singled out Virat Kohli for his 107-run innings.
