2017 is just the year to dispel ugly modern cricket myths

Team India celebrate yet another moment of success during the recent Test series against England which the home team won 40 PicPTIThis year should be the one of dispelling modern cricket myths A tour of the Asian subcontinent especially India has this habit of spawning myths legends and homespun truisms that often donrsquot do justice to a cricketing journey that is far too complex to wrap up in a convenient oneliner Foreign teams particularly Australia have developed a number of theories about how to beat the hosts at home Most of those theories are outdated or ultracontemporary ignorant to the everchanging landscape and sophisticated nuances of touring a country as diverse as IndiaTo a people as culturally diverse as India mdash to make generalisations about cultures that span the Sikhs in the north to the Tamils in the south and a rich mix of mininations in between is to mistake diversity for homogeneity The colonial rulers never quite mastered it mdash it is unlikely that the Australian cricket team will weaken Indiarsquos defences by following Steve Smithrsquos theory that ruffling Virat Kohlirsquos feathers in other words verbally taunting him aka sledging is going to work Have they learned nothing from studying the history of the Indian psyche the passiveaggressive method made famous by GandhiTo begin with this new Indian team is so much more than Kohli It is a team made up of wonderfully skilled cricketers who know their own conditions inside out and no longer have the colonial cringe mentality that sometimes led to past Indian teams being too meek and hospitable in the face of a firestorm Whilst the batting has Kohli as its flagbearer the recent Chennai innings showed that even when Kohli fails 700plus scores are comfortably within range The bowling too relies on Ravichandran Ashwin as the leader of the pack but take the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and the genuine quicks lightly at your own peril The fielding especially the close catching at batpad and legslip is far superior to anything that a nonAsian team can boast and this is a crucial advantageFor a country steeped in literature and a myriad of languages words are cheap What will count can be measured on the scoresheet not in simplistic mind games that Australians think they have a monopoly onThis Indian team is a far cry from their meek predecessors mdash if Australia forget to focus on their own game and devote too much attention to ruffling Kohlirsquos feathers they may just win a battle or two but they will convincingly lose the war Tired pitches towards the end of the cricket season will test the Aussies in ways that will focus every sinew on coming up with plans for their own survival rather than plotting the famous lsquomental disintegrationrsquo tactics that never really worked in IndiaThe Australians used to live by the mantra that to lose your patience in Asia is to lose the war That harked back to an era where it referred to more than just the onfield actionIt was as much a comment about the allegedly substandard conditions that had to be endured rather than enjoyed Whilst that mentality is no longer in vogue Australiarsquos recent tour of Sri Lanka was evidence of the sort of panic that led to them moving away from that mantra With the bat especially when the ball was turning patience was abandoned in a flurry of reverse sweeps and adventurous strokes that played perfectly into the hands of the host Rediscovering a genuine belief in that theory and then being patient enough to execute it may well be the key to competing with IndiaEngland went for the bold approach trying too hard to take the attack to India They paid a heavy price Australia could do worse than to take some lessons from the Brits It is often the case especially on turning pitches that you need to wear bowlers down If you get beaten on the outside edge smile ruefully and have faith in your defensive technique The lsquoif in doubt hit outrsquo approach can work on pitches where the fast bouncing ball can fly off the edges and a batsman can build momentum like Ian Botham in that famous matchturning innings at Headingley in 1981 Indian pitches tend to favour the opposite approach mdash go even more on the attack when yoursquore on top but you may have to be prepared to grind your way out of a hole with patience and grit Matthew Hayden took the attacking approach at the top of the order when Australia was looking to dominate but it might take the patience of a Dean Jones or Allan Border to win more than a long war of attritionAsk any hardnosed Australian cricketer hewn from the rock of Border if they crumbled when the blowtorch was applied and theyrsquoll give you a scornful look They reckon that the more you ruffle their feathers the better they play Border is even on the record as saying he sometimes went looking for conflict in order to fire himself up So why is it they think that deliberately riling a player of Kohlirsquos calibre would have the opposite effect Have they not watched him bat The more pressure the more aggro the more acidhellip the more runs he scores Australians do not have a monopoly on mental toughness It would be a simple game otherwise mdash forget batting and bowling skills just become mentally toughTheacircu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Indian jungle like the African bushveld has more than one threat that you need to keep an eye out for As a wildlife ranger in Africa when Irsquom not watching cricket I can tell you that the biggest mistake you can make is when you focus too much on the lion or elephant that you can clearly seeItrsquos sometimes the one that sneaks up on you the one you never knew was there that gives you an almighty fright Winning the BorderGavaskar Trophy is not impossible for this talented Australian team but it may need more subtlety than a strategy that relies upon poking a King Cobra with a blunt stick The venom of a krait can sometimes result in a slow paralysis but the end result is just as terminal