Aussies out to win hearts, on the field and off it

Irrespective of the result in Kolkata, Australia have already won. Though without five main bowlers, they have played great cricket, except for the stumble in Gwalior, and won matches in terrific style.

Irrespective of the result in Kolkata, Australia have already won. Though without five main bowlers, they have played great cricket, except for the stumble in Gwalior, and won matches in terrific style.

HT Image

Both India and New Zealand were brushed aside, dismissed with complete disdain, some matches so unequal that one thought Anna Kournikova was playing Serena Williams.

In the Aussie triumph there are lessons to be learnt. Obviously, they are clearly superior, their cricket is competitive and excludes emotion, sentiment or dosti. For them, only performance matters. But Australia's conquest of India this season stretches beyond cricket.

During the tour the team knocked a cricket ball around and the players reached out and busied themselves with events ranging from serious social work to ( even more ) serious socialising on the party circuit.

Look at some of the things they did. Ponting spent time with challenged children. Gilchrist coached young kids and spoke about India's rich culture. Hayden collected recipes of local dishes and cooked food at hotels.

The team supported charities, made all the right PR moves but also partied, danced at discos, consumed large quantities of Fosters and had a ball.

They also made a valiant effort to impress Mandira B during an exhibition game, their interest visible in a photograph. This image of a happy, nicely adjusted team is in complete contrast to what happens usually. Most visiting teams in India can't stop cribbing about the food/ heat/dust/crowd behaviour/long travel/quality of drinking water - the list of complaints is long.

Bogged down by this jhanjhat, touring players restrict themselves to the hotel-ground-airport routine, thinking incorrectly that any contact with the non-sanitised world will cause grave problems.

But from the Aussies, preoccupied with having a blast, there were no complaining noise at all. Some think this radical image change is a deliberate ploy to bag endorsement deals and tap the vast commercial possibilities that cricket throws up in India. Quite likely this is true, because that happens in cricket, which is market driven.

Looking at the way the tour has unfolded, a visiting side would be satisfied with what was achieved irrespective of the outcome on Tuesday.

But not the Aussies because they are focused on winning, everything else is peripheral. And this makes them special.