Mirror image: Adam Gilchrist poses next to a sand sculpture of himself in Melbourne © Getty Images Enlarge

Adam Gilchrist says the Australian team is tired of the criticism from former players, which is mostly directed towards the former coach John Buchanan. In the past few days, Shane Warne and Ian Chappell have picked on Buchanan, with Chappell stating that his daughter might have done better than Buchanan and Warne labelling Buchanan "a goose".

"I must say there has been a lot said in the papers this week," Gilchrist said. "I guess one of the traits that we have a lot of pride in wearing the baggy green is that we show a lot of respect. That's what we have prided ourselves on. It is an elite club and we have always felt that a major characteristic of being in that club is to show respect. It just seems that some guys in retirement have lost that."

Gilchrist also hoped the Test series against India would be free of the tension that was around during the ODI series in India. "It will be hard fought," he said. "They are a team that has said that they want to take the challenge to us in an aggressive manner. Hopefully we won't go down that route again in terms of the amount that was written about and time it took. It all got a bit out of control in the one-day series early on in India.

"We are both aggressive teams, we are talented teams. I think we will just be trying to play hard aggressive cricket and not go too far with it."

On Australia's bowling combination for the Test, Gilchrist said it would depend on the conditions, but he preferred a spinner in order to have a balanced attack. "As a general rule, I have always thought a spin bowler in a Test team is very well balanced as an option. But I must put an asterisk - it depends on the conditions and that's what we have got to weigh up.

"We definitely have got the arsenal to warrant four quick bowlers if the conditions suit. We have got a world-class spin bowler in Brad Hogg. He has proven that in one-day cricket and he's now very excited about the opportunity to try and prove that he deserves to play Test cricket."

Gilchrist was not concerned about his record against India. His career average in Tests is 49.27, but in the 14 matches against India it drops to 29.95. "There's no sort of box left unticked," he said. "I have scored a couple of hundreds against them in very very difficult circumstances."