Five days, 22 players, 22 yards. The fundamentals don’t change and despite the rapid ascent of Twenty20, payment disputes, and an era when television rights are more valuable than the games they cover, they won’t.
So why is it that an Australian tour of India sees our country’s cricketers, fans and analysts perplexed?
Indeed, the writing of this piece suggests that I too get swept up in the excitement and unknown of cricket on the subcontinent. I won’t for a second pretend that I don’t enjoy, or engage in, hypothetical debate over a potential Australian XI (for what it’s worth, I’m backing Matt Renshaw over Shaun Marsh).
However, consistently at the crux of any such discussion is Australian batsmen’s inability to play quality spin bowling, on what we consider ‘ragging pitches’.
Not for a second to suggest that the Indian attack won’t rely heavily on spin – Ravi Ashwin is the ICC No.1 ranked bowler for a reason. But can Australia counter him and his bag of tricks on home soil?
It seems as though everyone involved with Australian cricket (and that includes the millions of supporters around the country) adopts a defeatist mentality when our cricketers travel to India, when we are away from our touted “fast and bouncy pitches” with “fast outfields” and limitless “home-grown support” (quotes verbatim from any day’s play in the Channel Nine commentary box), it all seems a bit too hard.
Where billions will be supporting the opposition, the food is different and the cricket is tough, we resort to an excuse of overtly turning pitches and superb spin bowling.
Not in any way to suggest that the players will be making excuses come February 23 in Maharashtra, but I wonder if the rest of us might.
If over a number of years we have just come to accept that maybe India in India, with a plethora of talented spinners, are just too good.
Ashwin was player of the series last time we were in India – he may well be again.
It’s called Test cricket for a reason, so let’s stop making excuses and let our players take on a real challenge.
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