Australia will have to be wary of defending champs West Indies

Mumbai, Nov 4 (UNI) Defending champions West Indies, who have built up a good momentum getting into the final of the Champions Trophy, will have to be taken seriously by world champions Australia even as they start favourities in the final of the Champions Trophy which will be played at the Brabourne stadium here tomorrow.

Australia, who are seeking to add the only trophy which has eluded them so far, will have to look to upset the natural striking rhythm of the West Indies batsman to have a chance to beat the underdogs in the final.

West Indies with their top order batsmen all striking form especially opener Chris Gayle who has already smashed three centuries in this tourney will be depending on them to once again put the world champs under pressure.

For the defending champions a win here against Australia in the Super Eight stage will stand in good stead as far as the morale and confidence of the team goes.

However, they have to be wary of an Australian backlash as they saw in Kuala Lumpur when the world champs after losing their league game against West Indies, came out all guns firing to decimate the men from the Carribean in the final.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting will bank on Brett Lee's pace and the swing of Nathan Bracken to counter Gayle and the other batsmen including one Brian Charles Lara who with his genius can turn the game on its head on any given day.

With S Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo and Runako Morton also striking form it will be upto the Aussie bowlers to deliver the goods in the final of this Champions Trophy also billed as the mini World Cup.

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