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Apparently, certain wines and beers taste that much better in the country of origin.
This might, of course, be nonsense and it could well all be in the mindset of the individual doing the consuming but, nevertheless, I’ve heard this old adage often enough to make me think there might be something in it.
Yet while there may be some cause for doubt in the taste of alcoholic beverages in certain parts of the world, what brooks no cause for argument is the ability of the Indian cricket team – coming to a Test ground near you this summer – on foreign soil.
After their outstanding victory at Lord’s in the second Test, the tourists capitulated to such an extent that their presence at The Oval for the fifth instalment seemed to be against their own better judgement.
It would be very easy to go down the route of firing random accusations of misplaced priorities at those who control the game in India and a lot could be made of their apparent preference for the white-ball formats.
But the fact is India have been poor travellers for a while now.
I don’t need to trawl the archives to tell you that the India on home soil, should it glance in a mirror in search of it’s passport-wielding cousin, would see a far uglier away version peering back.
The bowling is incapable of maintaining any kind of pressure and the batsmen, who are world beaters in Delhi and Ahmedabad, become novices in Manchester and Wellington.
It could be a lack of fight, technical shortcomings, dollar-chasing tendencies, overloaded schedules or a combination of all of the above but it’s gone on for too long to be a coincidence.
One performance out of five is no cause for celebration nor is the infuriating habit of taking the positives as nothing will change until the mindset does.
A moving and bouncing ball isn’t reason for the concentration to waver but the exact opposite and at Lord’s the tourists proved that a green and bowler-friendly pitch needn’t necessitate abject surrender.
But, as with kids who keep doing what they shouldn’t, if the message goes in one ear and quickly out of the other, improvement is a long way away.
Come this winter in Australia, if MS Dhoni’s men turn up in a similar state of mind to the XI that appeared in south London last week, they are going to get annihilated.