Watson eyeing India to cement his place

Jaipur, Sep 25 (UNI) Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, who replaced Andrew Symonds, today said there was ''no pressure'' on him and it will be a ''great opportunity'' to show his worth against India in the forthcoming Test series starting on October 9.

''There's no pressure on me and its a great opportunity to prove my worth as an all rounder and as per the expectation of my team management,'' Watson said here.

Watson, who was the hero in the IPL representing Rajasthan Royals, said he was very happy to represent his national team in India.

''I would like to perform in the same manner I had performed in the IPL. I would take full advantage of my experienc in IPL,'' he added.

Watson, in the inaugural season of IPL, had played with different players on different grounds and did not take much time to acclamatise with Indian conditions.

Watson said there was no question of any comparision between Ashes and India-Australia series as the two series are played in different conditions.

Speaking on the contorversies that always sorround the India-Australia series, he said nothing of this sort will happen this time.

''It is a great opportunity for the experienced and the youngsters to perform here against India and they should take full advantage to get themselves established as it is a challenging series,'' Watson pointed.

He further added that there was a great deal of interest in the series between India and Australia earlier this year.

Refering to the practice session of the visiting team on the previous day and today, Watson said, ''we had concentrated on bowling yesterday and on batting today but it is not a part of any stretegy and it is just a routine.'' Replying to a question, he said, ''we are lucky to have got a week's time with a two day warm up tie with the local team before the departure to Hyderabad on September 29 and it will help us to get use to to the conditions.'' Watson said there was no question of any comparision between Ashes and India-Australia series as the two series are played in different conditions.

Speaking on the contorversies that always sorround the India-Australia series, he said nothing of this sort will happen this time.

''It is a great opportunity for the experienced and the youngsters to perform here against India and they should take full advantage to get themselves established as it is a challenging series,'' Watson pointed.

He further added that there was a great deal of interest in the series between India and Australia earlier this year.

Refering to the practice session of the visiting team on the previous day and today, Watson said, ''we had concentrated on bowling yesterday and on batting today but it is not a part of any stretegy and it is just a routine.'' Replying to a question, he said, ''we are lucky to have got a week's time with a two day warm up tie with the local team before the departure to Hyderabad on September 29 and it will help us to get use to to the conditions.'' Watson said ''he will try to contribute with the bat and the ball both but it would depend on my performance in which department I could be more useful.'' He further added that Symonds is a great batsman and a bowler too and it would be a great achievement for me if ''I could prove myself as Symonds or Jacques Kallis of South Africa or Andrew Flintoff of England.'' When asked about his injury, Watson said that now he is more fit and fine then past and he also added that by now he understood his body structure very well.

The visiting team had more then three hours extensive practice session in the fornoon before going for outing in the town.

UNI MY CS RN1548