“Give it back to them.”
That seemed to be the mantra adopted by the combination of team director Ravi Shastri and captain Virat Kohli during India’s last tour down under. Shastri has since passed on the team’s charge to Anil Kumble. And Kohli seems to have sobered down when it comes to expressing himself on the field.
Apparently, that does not really mean that Kohli and Co. will shy away from reacting to ‘verbals’ thrown their way by the Australian team during the upcoming Test series. In fact, Ajinkya Rahane — who is assumed to have slotted back in as vice-captain with his comeback into the team during the one-off Test against Bangladesh — had no qualms in spelling it out.
“We don’t know whether they will sledge us or not. For us, we have a plan for everything against them,” Rahane said after training with his team-mates at the Maharashtra Cricket Association’s stadium at Gahunje on Monday.
“We cannot reveal what the plan is, whether skill-wise or sledging-wise. But we know that the Australians are pretty good at playing mind-games. Let them do whatever they want to on the field. Our objective will be to dominate them in every aspect on the field.”
While the earnestness of Rahane’s remark reflects the confidence of his generation, it is indicative of the fact that India is rank favourite to pull off a whitewash, in a repeat of what happened when Australia last toured India for a Test series.
After seeing itself at the nadir when it was blanked by South Africa at home, Australia’s rebuilding process yielded immediate result as it won the series against Pakistan that followed.
However, going by the conditions, the visitors will be hard pressed to prove themselves against an on-song Indian team. Australia’s performances in the recent past on Asian wickets, even on those that are not dust-bowls, have been mediocre, and it will take a huge effort for Steven Smith and his men to stretch India.
Despite the tag of underdogs, the Australians are not expected to hold themselves back when it comes to sledging. Smith has already clarified that he will not restrain his players from expressing themselves on the field. Shreyas Iyer, who hit a double-century for India-A in the tour game, copped a fair bit of it.
Sledging is not necessarily about just insults, and the Australians have, over the years, mastered the art of engaging the opposition in mind games and forcing them into mistakes. Shreyas, for instance, spoke of remarks questioning his technique from the likes of David Warner and ’keeper Matthew Wade during the course of his innings.
From the spectators’ perspective, even if both the teams do not match each other in terms of skills on the field, it seems like there will be no dearth of firecrackers when it comes to players having a go at each other.
