Gilchrist prepares for patient approach

Is it a sign of Australia's willingness to evolve, or proof of their impending demise? As one of the most hyped series of recent times prepared to get underway at Bangalore, Adam Gilchrist, Australia's stand-in captain, indicated that his team's era of unabashed aggression was about to draw to a close.

With the scars of 2001 very much to the fore during a chaotic press conference at the Chinnaswamy stadium, Gilchrist hinted that a patient approach might be called upon, on a dry and cracked pitch that the coach, John Buchanan, recently described as "terrible".

"By nature, we are an aggressive team," admitted Gilchrist. "But to a huge extent, that aggression left the door open to India on our last tour. Back then, we were a very confident team riding a wave of momentum, but we've had a lot of time to ponder that defeat, and we've picked up a great deal of experience in subcontinent as well."

At Kolkata in 2001, India famously brought Australia's all-conquering run of 16 consecutive victories to an end, after VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid compiled a stand of 376 to turn the follow-on on its head. Australia, set an all-but-impossible final-day target of 384, crumbled to 212 as Harbhajan Singh ripped through the innings.

"We are wise to those experiences," added Gilchrist, who made a king pair in that match. "This time, we have planned much better, and we are ready to adopt what we think would be the right approach. Whether that means we'll have to be more patient, remains to be seen."

Any attempt by the captains to play down the hype was emphatically outmanoeuvred by the series sponsors, who first attempted to rouse the assembled press hoards with a continuous loop of "I vow to thee my country", before unveiling the series trophy - which emerged out of the backdrop on a revolving plinth - amid a deafening blast of the Star Wars theme tune.

Star Trek might have been more appropriate, given all the talk of Australia's "final frontier", but Gilchrist refused to be drawn into such talk, placing those words straight back into Steve Waugh's mouth, from where they had first emerged.

"It was maybe the final frontier for Stephen," said Gilchrist. "It was towards the end of his career, and he hadn't had success here, despite achieving so much in various places around the world. We prefer to see it as a fantastic opportunity to create a bit of history, although that's not to say we're putting any more emphasis on this than an Ashes series or the last India series. It's great that the Australia-India rivalry is so high-profile, and on worldwide scale, but that's as far as it goes."

The series begins without two of the most brilliant batsmen of the modern era, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar, although Gilchrist was wary not to get carried away by Tendulkar's absence, and the effect it might have on the Indian team.

"I regard Sachin as one of the best players I've ever seen," he said. "He provides a wonderful foundation for the rest of the order to work from, but in all honesty, he's not been the one who's really done the damage to us in the past series. He's played one or two remarkable innings, but over the course of the series it's been the Dravids and Laxmans who've really done it.

"I can tell you, we're well aware of the talent in the Indian team," concluded Gilchrist. "We won't be taking it easy at all."