Heat, dust and Buchanan's advice

Adelaide is boiling hot. It's 37 degrees Centigrade at the airport, and 39 by the time we hit the city centre. It is a dry, searing, Delhi-like heat that can burn the skin. Even by Adelaide standards, it is a hot day. The taxi gets so overheated that the air-conditioning refuses to work, for which the driver apologises profusely. Before getting into the cab, I ask John Buchanan, who is waiting behind me, why the Australians complain about the heat in India and he smiles: "Maybe it's the dust."

It's not always a great idea to travel on the same flight as a cricket team. The Australians' gear proves too heavy for the Boeing 737. This delays the flight, which is already running behind schedule. A few more minutes are spent offloading some luggage. There are some anxious faces among the passengers waiting alongside the conveyer belt at Adelaide airport. But the Indian media contingent survives unscathed.

On the flight, the Australian team sits scattered in groups. They are an easy-going bunch: the swagger has been left behind on the field and they are happy to mix. It's cattle class for everybody, because many domestic flights in Australia don't have an executive class. Some of players are with their wives and girlfriends. Adam Gilchrist is in the last row with his wife and son, and is busy playing father. He doesn't mind an informal chat.

"You guys must have enjoyed the Test," he says, looking up from a card game he's been trying entertain his son with. He is quite impressed with Sourav Ganguly's innings: "He is a tough guy. We have a lot of respect for him. He played aggressively and that's the way to play in Australia."

In fact, Gilchrist's column in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning was full of Ganguly. He described his innings as an "outstanding captain's knock from a man who it seems is constantly having his batting technique and personality questioned". He wrote that Ganguly didn't shy away from the short ball, that many had expected might lead to his downfall this summer. And he had not shied away from the responsibilities of being captain of his cricket-mad nation.

Gilchrist said that while he was personally disappointed with Ganguly's "apparent disrespect of not only our captain, but the many years of cricket tradition" during Australia's tour of India in 2000-01, when Ganguly kept Steve Waugh waiting at the toss and once turned up in his training gear instead of the team blazer, he conceded that the relationship between the teams has been good so far. Gilchrist wrote: "Ganguly has already engaged in more off-field conversations with members of our side this week than I can remember from the whole tour in the subcontinent in 2001."

The good thing about this Australian team that they rarely offer excuses. There has been no talk yet from them about the absence of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne, and Gilchrist doesn't blame the pitch for his dismissal in the first innings either: "I got a good ball," he says. "To not to get out to good balls would be superhuman."

There's the customary chat with the press at Adelaide airport. Matthew Hayden is the man doing the honours this time. Inevitably, he is asked about the run-out involving Waugh (is it a coincidence that out of 27 run-outs he has been involved in, 23 times it's his partner who's got out?), and he sidesteps it deftly by saying "That's water under the bridge and we are really looking forward to the Adelaide Test match."

He admits that India's performance at the Gabba did take Australia by surprise. "Not so much in fighting characteristics, but in the way they played on a pitch which was going to suit Australia. Considering that there were a lot of weather interruptions, they fought pretty well."

And just before I get in the cab, I ask Buchanan if the heat will have a bearing on the pitch. "It will be baked," he says. Good for spinners? "Well, India should play both their spinners." Now is that a clue for the Indian team management, or a red herring?