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Indians put defeatist talk behind

The Indian cricket team today dismissed talk of losing all their Tests against Australia and turned their minds on preparing for the first Test next month.

The Indians, who play their opening tour match against Queensland tomorrow, accepted the denial of Board of Control of Cricket in India secretary Jaywant Lele of ever having said India would lose the series 3-0.

Lele was quoted by rediff.com as saying India had no chance against the Australians.

''As far as we're concerned the chapter is closed - he has assured us that there is nothing in it,'' tour manager Mahendra Bhargava said.

''We have never heard anything like this from him before. I would never think that he would give a statement like this.

"The players are satisfied. We'll stop it at that and let the players get on with cricket.''

The first Test begins in Adelaide on December 10. India have chosen a strong team for the four-day match in Mackay against Queensland, current leaders of the inter-state championship.

The teams:
India: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Saurav Ganguly, Devang Gandhi, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Rahul Dravid, Vijay Bharadwaj, Mannava Prasad, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Debashish Mohanty, Thiru Kumaran, Venkata Laxman.

Queensland: Stuart Law (captain), Matthew Hayden, Jimmy Maher, Martin Love, Andrew Symonds, Geoff Foley, Wade Seccombe, Andrew Bichel, Adam Dale, Scott Muller, Matthew Anderson, Joe Dawes.

UNI