Australia can chase down any target: James Faulkner

Australia all–rounder James Faulkner feels that the Australia v India ODI series will be a high scoring affair. He also stated that no target is big for the current Australian side and they can chase down any target put in front of them because of the confidence instilled by their coach Darren Lehmann.

“He said the other night after the game he would rather see us bowled out for 200 trying to reach 300-plus than nudge it around and making a meal of it. I have a lot of confidence playing under him and I know every other player in the group does too to try and stretch our limits.”

Australia and India head to the Gabba for the second of their five-match series after a high scoring series opener at Perth where the home side chased down 309 in Perth on the back of a superior 149 by captain Steve Smith.

James Faulkner said that he was expecting a similar total like Perth at Gabba. Gabba is known as a lively deck but he feels that the pitch will be a flat belt and will have little to offer for the bowler, be it spinners or pacers.

“Everyone was quite surprised by the way the wicket played in Perth, it was very flat and we saw a lot of runs scored. I think anytime you see 300 scored and chased it’s definitely a flat wicket. I’m expecting the same sort of scenario here as well, I haven’t seen a one-day wicket that hasn’t been flat here for a fair while, so it should have good pace, carry and be a good contest again. In general it’s a tough gig bowling in Perth and here. Runs can be scored so fast due to the pace on the ball, change-ups don’t grip as much as other grounds like the MCG and Canberra that we’ll see later in the series. Everyone got hit the other day so I don’t think you can single out one or two bowlers.” Faulkner said in Brisbane.

When asked about the effect of the new powerplays rules, Faulkner said that the abolishment of the batting powerplays has not affected the fast paced run scoring because of the bigger bats and power hitters in the game.

“I did notice a change. The big change was the overs leading into the old powerplay where batters tended to milk it around and stay in and then use that as a launching pad. That was a dangerous time for any team batting, if you lost a wicket before that five-over period it could really halt your momentum. Likewise if you didn’t lose a wicket you could really set up a big total. I like the new rules, it goes back to five in the last 10 and it’s still a massive challenge for the bowlers, but it’s a bit more normal instead of players milking it around before.”