Australia kickstart tour on an impressive note

Australia’s start to their current tour of India has looked impressive. True, the India A side has very few established international players, but that cannot diminish the effort of the visiting team.

But fluent centuries by captain Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh and useful contributions from a few others — not to mention some wickets for off-spinner Nathan Lyon — would have been a confidence booster for the Aussies.

While the three-day match may not yield a result, getting the team — and particularly the batsmen — to ‘settle in’ quickly was the objective. This appears to have been met by the Australian top order.

In recent years, the dread of playing on Indian pitches against Indian spinners has been considerably enhanced. Australia, particularly, will remember their last visit — and a 0-4 whitewash — with great trepidation.

Why teams struggle still overseas so much is something of a conundrum. Cricket has grown exponentially in recent decades. There are more tours and T20 leagues have proliferated, which should negate the fear of playing in a different environment.

For example, between 1947 (when India became independent) and 1979, the Australians toured this country only four times. Since the turn of the millennium i.e. in less than 17 years, the Aussies are here on their fifth tour.

The IPL itself has become ‘home’ to several Aussie players, and at least four from the current team — David Warner, Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh and Glen Maxwell — owe their rise in international cricket to their deeds in the league.

All of this exposes players to different conditions and rivals more frequently than ever before. This should have made the uncertainties and apprehension of playing overseas considerably lesser but in fact seems to have burdened modern teams and players even more going by the results of the past two decades.

It must seem ironical that India and Australia, ranked number 1 and 2 in Tests by the ICC presently, have performed dismally overseas in the past few years. In a way this explains why rankings have been topsy-turvy in this period.

India’s last win outside the sub-continent came in South Africa in 2011. Australia have been whitewashed by Pakistan (in the UAE) and Sri Lanka last year - and against India in 2013 as mentioned earlier.

What explains this syndrome?

Former Australia captain Steve Waugh, who I met last week in Monte Carlo during the Laureus World Sports Awards (he is an Academy member now), says it is all in the mind of the players.

“In my days, I always thought playing overseas was less tough than playing at home,’” he said. “The pressure of expectation was lesser, there were fewer distractions, you could have sharper focus.

“Given the rise in exchange of tours between countries, the appetite for wanting to play overseas should be whetted even more. But perhaps the fear of losing overseas has overtaken the ambition of winning, making teams defensive” he added.

Waugh has an interesting take on how contests between fairly evenly matched teams pan out these days. “Getting early momentum is crucial, followed by the ability to sustain it, not allow the other team opportunity to recover.’”

He cites England’s example in the recently concluded series against India. “In the first Test, the chance to win was squandered because they did not show enough intensity. Once the momentum was lost, it was a goner.”

There are telling recent examples that support Waugh’s surmise either way. In 2014 in England, India became a tad complacent, lost traction and the series after taking the lead; in Australia a few months back, South Africa showed unrelenting aggression to win the first two Tests. By the time Australia recovered, the series had been lost.

“The first Test could decide the series,’” said Waugh of the India-Australia Tests beginning next week. “India are on a roll, but if Australia can grab early momentum and build on that, an upset’s possible.”

I would imagine Kohli, Kumble & Co will be working out stratagems in this perspective. While India have been in exemplary form, they must be on guard. Whichever side blinks first, falls.

All eyes on Pune then!