Perth, Jan 10 : Indian pace spearhead Zaheer Khan today came down hard on Brad Haddin for calling India a fragile team, saying the Australian wicketkeeper should work on improving his own “fragile” show behind the stumps instead of trying to score psychological points over the visitors.
“Haddin needs to worry about his keeping. It appears really fragile to me and he needs to start moving,” he said.
Zaheer said Haddin's comments were aimed at playing mind games with the tourists, who trail the Test series 0-2. The third Test of the series starts here Friday.
“He's doing all the talking. He's definitely playing his role.”Haddin had stated that India tend to break down easily when faced with tough situations.
“We know this side can be as fragile as any team in the world if things aren't going their way and they can turn on each other and the media turns on them pretty quick,” he was quoted by the media here.
“We knew if we could keep them out there and put the numbers like we did on the board we knew we'd get the rewards because they break quicker than anyone in the world.”
Meanwhile, Zaheer also took a swipe at former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, saying although he scored a century in the second Test in Sydney, he didn't look the batsman he used to be.
“All I can say is that he (Ponting) applied himself well. But the Ricky Ponting of old...the flair is different now. He was more of a grinder and it wasn't his natural game. But ahundred is a hundred and all credit to him.”
