Kuala Lumpur, September 13 :

Indian captain Rahul Dravid said his team has put behind this summer’s 4-1 series drubbing by the West Indies and will treat its first match in the tri-series against Brian Lara’s team as a fresh challenge.

The two teams will clash on Thursday in the second match. The third team is Australia, which beat West Indies by 78-runs in the opening match on Tuesday.

All three teams are treating the tri-series as a tuneup ahead of next month’s ICC Champions Trophy in India. “We will have to try and hit the ground running hard and we will have to try and get our act together quickly and we can’t afford to slip up and fall behind too quickly,” Dravid said.

A downcast West Indies, is recovering from Tuesday’s shock defeat when they were dismissed for 201, chasing Australia’s total of 279-9. “It was a bit difficult to comprehend but these things do happen,” captain Brian Lara said. But Lara said the “psychological advantage” from the victories over India in the series this summer must be continued in Kuala Lumpur.

Dravid, however, said the defeat will not affect his team. “It’s a completely new match, new venue, different conditions. That was a long time ago. We have to move on,” he said.

India made its tour of the West Indies without Sachin Tendulkar, who was recovering from shoulder surgery. He returned for a tri-series last month in Sri Lanka, which was canceled due to rain. Dravid refused to confirm if Tendulkar will be in the team on Thursday.

Ponting apologizes :

Kuala Lumpur: Australia captain Ricky Ponting on Wednesday apologized for an onfield outburst during the limited-overs tri-series opening match against the West Indies that resulted in him being fined his entire match fee. Ponting objected to umpire Asad Rauf’s decision to award a wide in the 33rd over of the West Indies innings. “I regret the approach I made and realize I shouldn’t have behaved in the way I did,” he said. — AP