Attitudinal shift: Tough Oz soften up
New Delhi, Sept. 26: Back when India had come up with the ‘Now or Never’ mantra to fuel their 2003 World Cup campaign in South Africa, the Australians too came up with their own: ‘Intent and Intimidate’. This chilling motto was put into words seven years ago, but it has historically been part of the way the Aussies approach every major tournament or tour.
The strategy is simple: They arrive, they ruffle a few feathers in the opposition camp with some sharp off-the-cuff remarks over an out-of-form opener and fast bowler who’s lost pace, and then they profit from it on the field. However, seeing their stocks fall rapidly in the last two years, the mind games have now ceased, and intimidating tactics has now given way for respect to the opposition.
“With the kind of batsmen India have, we’ll be idiots if we say we can dominate them psychologically. We have a young bunch most of whom will be playing the first or second Test matches here on this tour, so we have to be careful with what we say,” Australia coach Tim Nielsen told this newspaper.
The lessons have been learnt from their bruising tour to India two years back. Numero uno in rankings then, with daylight between them and the number-2 ranked South Africans, Ponting had spoken on how Indian batsmen could be frustrated with an in-and-out field. India hit back with a convincing 2-0 win and started the slide for Australia, who now occupy fourth place in the ICC Test rankings. “We had spent much time thinking on the mental part of the battle, we forgot to focus on our game. We lost the skill battle — their pacers reversed more, and batsmen were more settled,” Nielsen added.
Aussie legend Glenn McGrath was the master at targeting a particular batsman before every tour. It was his consistency that gave Ponting the confidence to indulge in mind games. But with him gone, and his once new-ball partner Brett Lee slowly fading away from the picture, Ponting has off late begun pinning his hopes on the skill of the aggressive, yet erratic fast bowler Mitchell Johnson.
“Times have changed, we can’t afford to worry if Mitch is hit 3-4-5 runs an over. Apart from him, we have Hilfenhaus, Peter George, James Pattinson and Mitchell Staric, but they are still rookies who need constant guidance,” Nielsen said.
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