India in Australia: Weakened Oz, rampant Virat Kohli provide extra intrigue to high-pressure series

“All the noise on the outside is as influencing as you want it to be.”

India skipper Virat Kohli was at his philosophical best in his first press conference on the 2018/19 tour of Australia in Brisbane on Tuesday.

It must indeed be difficult to ignore the noise. India have never won a series in Australia. Australia are missing their two best batsmen and they are struggling to make sense of a new ‘non-aggressive’ style that they have to adopt.

In the eyes of many, India will not have a better opportunity of beating Australia in Australia.

You can call it noise; you can call it a whisper; you can even choose to ignore it – but if India fail to win the Test series, it will go down as a major disappointment. That much is ‘definite’ and ‘obvious’ – two words that Kohli seemed to lay stress on ahead of the series.

“Australia is obviously a big tour for any Indian side that comes here. We played good cricket last time but were not able to win games. So this time around, we definitely want to change that. And any team should obviously be looking to win Test matches and Test series as a goal and we definitely believe we have the quality to do so. But it will boil down to how we think in each moment in every Test match that we play... in every game that we play on this tour,” said Kohli.

This is straight out of the Kohli textbook. The ‘obvious’ and the ‘definite’ are all part of his mental make-up. There is no room for doubt.

Great Expectations

But with great expectations also comes great pressure. When you know the opposition has been weakened due to various reasons – there can sometimes be the tendency to take things easy or conversely to push too hard. Both are scenarios that India would want to avoid.

For now, though, it seems like India want to keep things as simple as possible.

“We figured out our mistakes in England, which I mentioned before were very radical. The quality of cricket was high but our mistakes were just as radical and that’s why we lost the games. The game in which we committed [fewer] mistakes we won that game because we were at par with the other team throughout. So I think we have the ability to keep competing with the other team at par,” said Kohli.

“And in Test cricket whichever team commits fewer mistakes wins the game... that is the general rule. So we are focussing on cutting down our mistakes and if the situation goes bad for us, how to plug that situation as soon as possible. And we have identified those areas.”

There is also a different kind of pressure on the Indian team. The core of Kohli’s team – from a batting perspective - is not very young. Kohli, himself, just turned 30 and given that India usually tours Australia once every four years, this might be his last opportunity to find that elusive series win.

“We definitely are not thinking about... (that) this is the last opportunity for us to win in Australia. And that we might not come here again. I don’t think that is the right kind of mindset to have. But whatever series we play, our aim is to win that series. We don’t want to be a team that wins one-odd Test matches here and there.”

In Australia, even the one-odd Test win has been difficult to come by. In 44 Tests, India has managed to win just five. Australia, on the other hand, have won 28 of these Tests. It has been a very difficult place to tour for most countries – the only sides to win a series in the last 30 years Down Under are England and South Africa (twice).

And that is why Indian sides still seem to be wary. In the past, India have come visiting and faced weakened Australian sides but the hosts have somehow managed to avoid series defeats.

Not going to be easy

The batting may seem to be lacking but, it’s worth remembering, Australia’s bowling is world class.

“Missing out on two of their best batsmen is not an ideal thing but they still have world-class cricketers in their team. We have come here to play Australia and we won’t underestimate them,” said Kohli.

“The vulnerability factor as I said, it basically depends upon how the team plays on a particular day. So when you step on the field, everyone has an equal opportunity of upsetting any opposition and having their day with the ball, the bat or in the field. And the Australian team is more than capable of doing that even after losing their quality batsmen. They still have quality in their side to win games of cricket. We definitely will have to be at our absolute best to win against Australia in Australia,” the Indian skipper added.

There haven’t been many moments in the past where Australia have started a home series as underdogs but this is one of those moments. That reality alone with ratchet up pressure on both India and Australia, lending an intriguing edge to a series that has has steadily acquired marquee status over the years.

The T20Is, which begin on November 21, are just the appetiser to the main course but starting the tour with a few wins could make a huge difference for India. In that sense, for once, the bilateral T20Is have some context.

Let the games begin.