Australia's skipper Ricky Ponting, on Tuesday, vowed to make life difficult for Sachin Tendulkar in the upcoming Test series, which could see the Indian ace replace Brian Lara as the highest run scorer in Tests.
Ponting and his teammates feel that it is just a matter of time before Tendulkar, on 11,877 Test runs, overtakes Lara, who quit the game with 11,953 runs against his name.
Those 77 runs, however, would not be easy to come by, promised Ponting.
"Hopefully not (in this series)," Ponting said in reply to a query on Tendulkar reaching the milestone.
"I don't have too many great memories of him, for he tends to score heavily against us," quipped the cheeky Australian.
"But I have the highest regard for him. Sachin is a true champion, one of the all-time greats of the game and reaching this milestone would be a great reward for him," Ponting said.
"But we are here to win and know pretty well that we have to get rid of him early if we are to win here. We have come here with a few plans for him and hope our plans click," Ponting, in Hyderabad for the warm-up match against the Yuvraj Singh-led Board President's XI, told reporters.
Ponting will rely on pace spearhead Brett Lee mostly to silence Tendulkar in the four-match Test series. The speedster said he is up to the challenge.
"He is a world-class player who has proved himself over more than a decade. You talk about (Don) Bradman, you talk about Lara, Sachin and probably Ricky. It's an honour to bowl to Sachin and getting his wicket is the ultimate prize," Lee said.
"We have done our homework and have devised some plans, and I hope we can execute those," added Lee.
Fellow-pacer Mitchell Johnson said he has his fingers crossed, but is eager to have a go at Tendulkar.
"I don't want to make any prediction but I can say that it is going to be a great challenge and it will be hard for both," said the left-arm pacer.
The batting duo of Phil Jacques and Simon Katich, however, shied away from discussing Tendulkar's imminent milestone and said the team needs to think more about its own preparation for a demanding series.
"At the moment we are focusing on our preparation, and when the series starts I'm sure we'll talk about the opposition," Jacques said.
Katich echoed more or less the same view, saying Australia needs to ensure that all its players have their game in perfect shape before thinking about the opposition.
"Lot of preparation is on at the moment to get our own game in order. Once we are happy with the way we are processing, then I'm sure we will plan for the Indians," he said.
