India vs Australia 2017: Adam Gilchrist Asks Players To Go Fully ‘Indian’ For The Tour
Jan 29, 2017 at 3:01 PM
Adam Gilchrist, former Australian captain and legendary wicket-keeper batsman, has asked the team to go fully ‘Indian’ for the tour and embrace Indian culture and people if they want to taste success during their next month’s tour.
“I was very much a follower and believer of most things Steve Waugh was talking to us about. I took that very much on board and tried to do that as much as possible, still do now. I find it a fascinating country,” Gilchrist told Fairfax Media.
“It’s a country that weighs you down, too. You have highs and lows, it’s an emotional roller-coaster, on the field and off the field.
“You’ve got to find a way to escape from it – if it’s in your hotel room, but you don’t want to become a prisoner to your hotel room, you have to get out there.
“It’s [attitude] going to be a huge percentage of what’s required. The ingredient to success is a positive attitude, not just positive like you have to use your feet and go after the spinner but everything.”
The attitude problem of Australian players and the way they get over bad memories in sub-continent will be the key to success for them as on their last tour, they were crushed by the hosts 4-0.
The Australian team will not only have to get over the psychological issues but will also have to overcome their spin challenge, which will come in their way on the tour. The Australian team lost the Test series against Sri Lanka last year and their peroblems against spin were openly seen.
Gilchrist, while revealing the team plan during Australia’s tour of India in 2001 under Steve Waugh captaincy, said:
“From that, he extended it, saying this will be a ‘no whinge tour’,” Gilchrist said. “Forever we’ve come to India and we’re beaten before we get here. We’re whinging about the food, the conditions, the umpiring and the hotel room, the flights. We weren’t allowed to whinge, pretty much. It was amazing.
“It’s a great question you can ask yourself every day: how you think is how you feel and that’s how you’re going to act, is yours worth catching? And that really helped. We didn’t get the chocolates on that tour but it was a strong foundation to what lay ahead.”
The four-match Test series between India and Australia starts on February 23 with the first match to be played at Pune.