The pressure is on India, says Ponting

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting says the pressure is on India in the upcoming seven-match ODI series because of the Twenty20 World Cup triumph.

"If there is anything, pressure will probably come back on India. There is no doubt that some of the players will be under pressure," Ponting said on Thursday.

The battle of the two World Cup champions begins in Bangalore on Thursday, and Australia are keen to set the record straight after being knocked out by India in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup.

The ODI world champions will be without the services of key players in the series. Ponting is forced to sit out for a few matches because of an injury he sustained during the Twenty20 World Cup while Michael Hussey and Shane Watson did not make the trip because of injuries.

However, Ponting insisted that his team will play aggressive cricket.

"Sure, we've got a couple of injuries at the moment but, hopefully, by the first or second game they'll be all cleared up and we can go into this series in a very positive frame of mind, looking to play the best cricket we can," he said.

"We hope to win the series, and if that means winning every game, well then great! Hopefully, we'll start with a win on Saturday and take it from there. We will come out as aggressively as we possibly can in this series and impose ourselves on the Indians. If we do that, I am sure we will go a long way in winning the series," Ponting added.

He also dismissed the theory India are the favourites in the series.

"India is the World Twenty20 champions. We are the one-day and Test champions and as I see it we have a 50-over series coming up. So that says it all," the 32-year-old said.

He said the return of the senior batting trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly is no cause for worry.

"It's unfortunate that some of the younger guys who were in this team will be making way for senior guys to come back. I guess the thing for us is that we played against these guys a lot. Dravid, Ganguly and Tendulkar -- we should know their strengths and weaknesses very, very well. So, if anything, probably it will make it easier for us to prepare to play with these guys in the team."

Ponting said the impact of youth was clear at the Twenty20 World Cup and India deserved to be champions having played some good cricket.

"One thing that stood out from all of us looking at the Indian team at Twenty20... amount of youthfulness they had in the team, giving a nice fresh air. They played great cricket. They deserved to come back as champions. But that's finished now. We got to look forward to the series," he said.