Clark reposes faith in Aussie batsmen

New Delhi, Oct 30 (UNI) Despite the huge total piled up by India, Australian medium pacer Stuart Clark is confident that the Aussie batsmen will prove equal to the challenge as the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch is good to bat on.

The Indian batsmen made merry on a flat pitch with Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman notching up double centuries before declaring their innings at a massive total of 613.

In reply, the Australians were 50 for no loss with Simon Katich (29) and Matthew Hayden (16) holding fort in the middle.

''We are batting well and the pitch is good to bat on,'' Clark told reporters today after the end of the day's play.

''Tomorrow's first session will be crucial, we need to bat well and need to keep up the momentum,'' he added.

The 33-year-old was not too happy with the pitch since it did not offer any help to the seamers in spite of the Aussie pace trio of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark bowling their hearts out.

''We did not get any help from the pitch which resulted in India posting a big total. But I think later on it will help the spinners.

There are a lot of footmarks of the seamers on the pitch which can offer some help to the Indian spinners,'' Clark opined.

Clark also praised the brilliant knocks of Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman, saying, ''they both batted so well. Making a double hundred is big thing.'' Asked to compare the doubles centuries of Gambhir and Laxman, a smiling Clark remarked,''a double century is a double century. There can be no comparisons between the two.'' Laxman notched up his second double century against the Australians and Clark was pretty impressed with the batting of the stylish Hyderabadi.

''It is always difficult to bowl him out. He made some big scores.

He is an experienced and a talented batsman. He uses his wrist pretty well and put a lot of pressure on us today,'' he added.

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