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Australia’s touring party to India is the most vulnerable squad they have sent away for a Test series since assuming the title of world champions in 1995, according to former captain Ian Chappell.
The Australians have only four players in their lineup who have played Tests in India before, while India have retained their bevy of ageing stars in Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and captain Anil Kumble.
“In my time of watching, playing and commentating I’ve only seen a couple of poor Australian sides and the 2008 version isn’t one,” Chappell wrote in the Hindustan Times.
“However, since Australia defeated the West Indies in 1995 to become unofficial world champions, they’ve never looked this vulnerable.
“That poses the question, ‘is India strong enough to grab this glorious opportunity’?”
Chappell said it was a sign of weakness that the Australians have consistently made reference to their ranking as the world’s No.1 Test playing nation, something that did not happen anywhere near as much when the team was a stronger one.
“When Australia was head and shoulders above other teams and had a plethora of superstars, there was no such reference,” he said.
“They didn’t need to make mention of their superiority then, as their consistently brilliant play was ample confirmation.
“This constant reference sounds like some mantra that has been dreamed up by a PR or marketing man.
“Any cricketer who is intimidated by the glimpse of an opposition cap or the constant repeating of a slogan is playing in the wrong grade.”
Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar, meanwhile, has declared that Australia and India are playing each other too often under the current reciprocal agreement between the two countries.
The Australians have played India in Tests or limited overs games either at home or away virtually every year since 2003, when Cricket Australia and the Board of Control for Cricket in India set in motion a program designed to cash in on the success of the epic 2001 series.
“But for the fact it was such an enthralling series last time around, it made little sense for the two teams to be confronting each other so soon and in the same year,” Gavaskar wrote in the Times of India.
“Too much of a good thing will even have the public get fed up.
“The ideal space between series is the one between Australia and England for the Ashes, as it allows the teams to regroup.”
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