Strange silence

The silence emanating from the likes of Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting is strange. It is un-Australian and uncomfortable. Is this Australian team so focused on redecorating their house after the recent retirements that they have no time for taking potshots at their rivals? Or is the Indian media doing their job for them, putting pressure on the top five players with endless discussions about retirement plans?

Hayden famously said at the start of a series in which Australia were expected to steamroll India that Indian batsmen were selfish and more worried about individual performances than team results. Glenn McGrath then chipped in with something or the other. Shane Warne, always ready to jump in where angels fear to tread, could be relied upon to add his bit. Whether this was a chapter out of Steve Waugh¹s book on mental disintegration or not, it was lively, it was rude, and it put bums on seats.

This Australian team is either quietly confident or quietly diffident. It is the quietness that is startling. Ponting has said his tactic in the previous series consisted of denying Indian batsmen runs in the hope they would get themselves out. This is like Muhammad Ali revealing he won his bouts by whispering jokes into his rivals' ears every time they were in a clinch. Steamrollers must be made of sterner stuff.

John Buchanan, manager of the previous team to India, and interviewed on a daily basis ever since he became an honorary Indian by attaching himself to one of the IPL teams, said a fortnight ago that this was an Australian team that could win the series in India; more recently he was quoted as saying that this is a diminished team that lacks the aura of the past.

All the clichés and pre-series predictions came alive in the warm-up match in Hyderabad. Australian bowlers struggled just as much as their batsmen did, and it was left to one of the Indian century-makers, Rohit Sharma, to make the first condescending comment: the offspinner Jason Krejza is not a bad bowler, Rohit said, after carting him all over the park. Krejza might have finished with 0 for 123 in 20 overs and 0 for 76 in 11 overs, but “I didn’t think he did all that bad”, the batsman said. The tone was reminiscent of the condescending comments English and Australian players made in the days when India were not expected to win anything.

Written off before the series has even begun: that might just be the spur the visitors need to get their act together. One of sport¹s biggest mistakes is to underestimate an Australian team. India were clearly the superior side in 1969-70 in India, in 1977-78 in Australia, in 2004-05 in India, and yet lost all these series.

A cricket match with Australia might begin with the toss, but a cricket series usually begins with uncalled-for comments from their players. As I write, there are five days to go before the Bangalore Test, so there¹s time yet.

Political correctness is the enemy of frisson in sporting encounters.