Sydney, Jan 3: Team India coach Duncan Fletcher on Tuesday came out in support of Gautam Gambhir after the opener had another dismal outing in the ongoing four-match Test series in Australia. Fletcher believed that the opening batsmen, struggling for form at the moment, were sure to come good once they had settled in.

On Gautam Gambhir’s poor form

I think the only problem with Gautam is that he is a little tentative at the moment. He looks to hit the ball and then leave it. He has put himself under a little bit of pressure but we have been working in the nets where he feels a lot more positive. Today [he got out on] the second or third ball [of the day] and that could happen to anyone. He is in a good space. Very soon he will be striking the ball very well.

On the openers failing to give the team a good start

You’ve got to appreciate that the two opening batsmen are key to any side. Viru [Virender Sehwag] and Gautam have performed very well for India. It is unfortunate that at the moment they are trying to find their feet. We are very confident that once they strike they will give us the platform we require.

On Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke

Well, from our point of view it would have been good to get one of them tonight. It would have put us in a very good position with them four down. We will look to ensure that tomorrow morning we can get the breakthrough we need. We are a young and inexperienced attack and we appreciate that there will be times when we are inconsistent; but [the bowlers] have shown that they can put in a good spell. [We] hope they can do that tomorrow morning.