Chennai: Australian speedster Brett Lee gave captain Sourav Ganguly full credit of taking the team to new heights and dismissed suggestions that the Indians performed better Down Under during their last tour because of his and Glenn McGrath's absence.
"Whatever be the complex situations, the Indian team under Ganguly has moved to great heights. The fact of the matter is that Ganguly is determined to stay focused and scale new heights," the Australian speed king told a press conference.
"It is not right to say that they (Indians) performed better only because of our absence. A good performance should be appreciated," Lee, who is here as the brand ambassador of Timex watch makers, said.
"I am disappointed that I missed those matches but looking forward to our visit to India in coming October." Talking about India's latest new bowlers L Balaji and Irfan Pathan, Lee said, ”It was good to see potential youngsters coming through in world of cricket. It is good for India.”
He described V V S Laxman as an excellent batsman with technical soundness, comparable to that of Sachin Tendulkar's. "We have played cricket together at junior levels in 1994. He used to whack me to all parts of the ground," he recalled.
Lee was of the opinion that the coming series between India and Australia would be a challenging one. "Ganguly is determined to keep up to his winning momentum as much as Ricky Ponting, who wants to take his team higher and higher. It will be a great chance to tour India".