No longer a foreign land
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
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India, far from being a strange land, is cricket's true home, writes Garry Linnell in the Daily Telegraph. He says that unlike previous touring parties, the current Australian squad touring India would be much more at ease.
"It took me maybe three tours before I finally started feeling comfortable over there," Shane Warne said recently. "I don't know what it was, but I never used to look forward to going. But on my last trip I started to love it and now I think I've come to understand the place."
It's all changing now. India is now the cash cow of world cricket and a professional cricketer will always find a way to love something backed by the green stuff. But there is also a new maturity among the latest generation of Australian cricketers. We first saw it emerge with Steve Waugh and a handful of others, men who saw touring not just as a sporting mission but a self-educational journey.
Mathew Varghese is sub-editor (stats) at Cricinfo