Watson hits back at Gambhir, says Indian opener no Mr Perfect

Melbourne, Nov 16 (UNI) A one-Test ban could not force opener Gautam Gambhir to regret elbowing Shane Watson during the Delhi Test in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy and now the Australian all-rounder has shot back saying the Indian is no ''Mr Perfect'' either.

After being banned for one Test, Gambhir said he had no regrets about elbowing Watson as the all-rounder deserved it for constantly hurling abuses at him.

Following the episode between the two players, Gambhir was banned for one-Test because of which he could not play the fourth and final Test at Nagpur, while Watson was fined 10 per cent of his match fees.

However, Watson further added that he always enjoys playing against Gambhir and a bit of exchange of words should not be be considered against the spirit of the game.

''He's a great competitor, he batted extremely well against us. I actually love playing against him because you know it's going to be a big dog-fight to get him out.

''People don't want to see robots who don't show any emotion.

They want to see people having a go,'' Watson was quoted as saying by 'The Sunday Telegraph' today.

Watson also accused the Indian batsmen of being responsible for the slow over-rate which marred the Test series atleast for the Australian team.

He said the Indians took too long to get ready to face a ball and that should have been taken into account.

''Maybe making you wait (to bowl) is a way to maybe get under your skin. As a bowler I was ready to go quite a few times and they took time to face up.

''There's no doubt we've got to fix it, because we don't want to have the same situation as we did having to make up overs and costing ourselves a Test match win,'' Watson added.

The 27-year-old all-rounder also defended his captain's decision to bowl part-timers at a crucial junture when frontline bowlers could have done the job in the final session on day four of the last Test at Nagpur.

''Of course I wanted the ball because there was an opportunity, that hour was crucial. But on the flip side, I back Ricky 100 per cent in every decision he makes,'' Watson stated.

Watson was one of the star performers in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which staked his claim in to the national side as a bright prospect. The all-rounder also performed well both with the bowl and the bat in the Border-Gavskar Trophy against India which the visitors lost 0-2.

''I'm a lot more in control of what I'm doing now, where I'm bowling the ball, what my plans are to get batsmen out.

''There's no doubt that IPL was the big catalyst to give me an opportunity back in the Australian One-day team to start with.

But I'd give anything to be able to play for Australia,'' Watson said.

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