Ponting happier after Kumble meeting

CRUNCH TALKS: Ponting (left) with Kumble during a meeting in Perth. (AFP)

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said he was glad to have held clear-the-air talks with India's Anil Kumble after coming under intense pressure following the infamous Sydney Test.

Ponting, who faced calls to step down after the explosive events of Sydney, promised "appropriate" behaviour in the third Test starting here on Wednesday with both teams in the spotlight.

"I am really happy that Anil and I were able to sit down as two grown men and have a good chat about the whole thing," he said.

"I felt a lot happier after that meeting and I am sure Anil did too.

"Both he and I have been under a lot of pressure this week and to get that meeting out of the way has been really good for both us and for the game."

Ponting and Kumble met on Monday to defuse tensions between the teams after charges of racism and poor sportsmanship marred a gripping finale in the second Test of the series.

India dropped abusive language charges against spinner Brad Hogg in an apparent peace offering after the talks, brokered by International Cricket Council (ICC) chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle.

Ponting said it was vital that both teams keep their emotions in check at the WACA ground, where Australia are chasing a record 17th consecutive Test win.

"It is important now that our actions are carried out in the appropriate manner in the next five days," he said.

"It is not about what has happened, it is about future actions and we are keen to make sure our future actions are as good as they can be on the field."

The two captains also agreed to scrap a contentious pre-series agreement for batsmen to accept fielders' word on catches after it backfired spectacularly in Sydney.

Man-of-the-match Andrew Symonds earned India's wrath when he admitted knowing he was caught on 30 in the first innings before making 137 not out.

"It's been scrapped, as of yesterday," Ponting said.

"That wasn't the way I wanted to play. I wanted to continue the way it was but the feeling through the Indian team was that they would like it to go back and be in the hands of the umpire."

Australia will be without injured opener Matthew Hayden, who has a hamstring strain, ending a run of 86 consecutive Tests for the veteran batsman.

"I couldn't look the skipper in the eye and say that I was going to be fully fit," said Hayden, who will be replaced by uncapped West Australian Chris Rogers.

Hogg also makes way for Shaun Tait as Australia go for four fast bowlers on the fast and bouncy WACA wicket.

"Taity will be used in short spells to really unsettle the batsmen," Ponting said.

"As we have seen through his career, he is a wicket-taking machine. It's very rare that he goes a game or an innings without taking two or three wickets."

India meanwhile looked set to drop Harbhajan Singh in favour of Irfan Pathan for the same reason, despite a postponement to the off-spinner's appeal against his racism ban until after the series, meaning he is available to play.

Harbhajan received a three-Test suspension for allegedly calling Symonds a "monkey," a claim India strenuously deny. The appeal will not be heard until after the fourth Test, the ICC said late on Monday.

Aggressive opener Virender Sehwag was also set to be recalled at the expense of Yuvraj Singh.

The 52-Test veteran will return at the top of the order with Rahul Dravid, who has struggled as an opener in the first two Tests, dropping to number three.

"To have the quality of Rahul at three, it will again shift the batting order a bit," Kumble said.

Likely teams: Australia - Ricky Ponting (c), Chris Rogers, Phil Jaques, Andrew Symonds, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Brad Hogg (12th man).

India - Anil Kumble (c), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Sourav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, R.P. Singh, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Dinesh Karthik (12th man).

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