Prospect of duel with MSD excites Joel Paris

More excited than nervous at the prospect of squaring off against the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Australia’s uncapped pacer Joel Paris on Saturday said his team’s bowlers only need to focus on accuracy to tame India’s “world-class” batters in the ODI series starting January 12.

The 23-year-old said he is pumped about making a mark in the series should he get a chance to play.

Asked if the prospect of bowling to somebody like Indian captain Dhoni is unnerving, Paris said it’s a mix of both excitement and anxiousness.

“More excited I guess but there is a bit of nerves obviously. If I get to play, it would be fantastic. So, little bit of nerves but I think that’s a good thing. I will certainly be using that as a positive rather than a negative,” Paris said in a media interaction.

The youngster has done well for himself in the Australian domestic circuit picking up 24 wickets in 13 List A games.

Paris said the Indian batting line-up can only be tackled with a consistently incisive approach.

“India’s whole batting line-up is world class and they have been like that for a number of years. As for their record here, it’s a new series, both teams start at 0-0. If we bowl really well and bowl in the channels we want to bowl in, we will give ourselves every opportunity of doing well. If we don’t then as I have said, they have got world-class batters to take advantage of that,” Paris said.

Paris said his side would spare no effort in exploiting the conditions at Waca.