Oz, Indians share cordial ties: Lee

Melbourne, Feb 26 (UNI) Despite all the controversies and bad blood on the field, Australian pace spearhead Brett Lee said his teammates enjoy a cordial relationship with the Indians on the field.

''As soon as we walk over that white line we're competitive and we're playing as hard as we possibly can,'' Lee said. ''But I can tell you that off the field there has been some amazing friends formed over the past couple of months,'' he said.

''I think if you see the way we get on with the Indian cricket team off the field it's a totally different story,'' he added.

Despite the complaints lodged by Team India yesterday against the provocative tactics employed by the Aussies during their CB Series match in Sydney, Lee said he preferred to focus on playing cricket, rather than worry about what would come of the complaints made by the Indian management.

''It's just their call, isn't it?'' he said. ''The thing that we can concentrate on is going out there and hopefully winning games for Australia.'' ''I know there was a bit of stuff floating around, but it's a matter of me as a player I think to really focus on Friday's match,'' he added. ''... There has been a fair bit spoken, especially after the game and the complaints and stuff, but it's a matter now of focusing on the game of cricket.'' The 31-year-old said the Australians try to gain an edge through ''mental disintegration'' of their opponents - a description coined by former skipper Steve Waugh. But he believed they had not crossed the line and always acted ''in the right spirit of the game''.

''We're out there playing hard cricket and as long as we're playing by the rulebook then there's no problems with that,'' he quipped.

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