It's time for the idle talk to stop

When India take on Australia, there is always a fair bit of banter around. There will be talk of the unmentionables; of talent; of grit; of India’s dismal record Down Under; of Ricky Ponting’s dimming star; of Rahul Dravid stubbornness; of Michael Clarke’s captaincy; of VVS Laxman’s grace; of Virender Sehwag’s belligerence; of Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international ton and more. But once the teams take the field on Boxing Day (at 0500 hrs IST), all that talk will count for naught. The only thing that will matter is performance – not experience; not talent; not style; only winning will. Because even if you can talk up a storm, unless you win, you can quickly find that no one wants to listen to you. We’ll move from the past into a present that will evolve at the rate of runs and wickets. There will be 75,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground – some still dressed in their most splendid Christmas colours – but that won’t be the only reason why the Indians will be nervous. [caption id=“attachment_165115” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Australia will walk out to a expectant crowd. Getty Images”] [/caption] The first Test jitters are something the Indian team knows well. All the experience and class suddenly turns to rubbish in the first Test of the series. Usually, the team in recent times at least has found a way to balance that out with great performances later in the series but as we saw in England, there are also times when a poor start sets the tone of the series. India’s biggest stars rarely ever sweat a lot before the first Test – this time too, the bowlers have had a gentle warm-up going into the match, probably because they can’t afford to risk more. India’s former mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton used to have a theory about this: They are very laid-back until provoked. “For example, Gautam Gambhir seems to know how to give his absolute best when the stakes are highest,” Upton had said. “Whether it is batting all day in New Zealand, or with an injured arm in South Africa or the innings in the World Cup final, when the pressure is on, he will not back off. “Mahendra Singh Dhoni is another one who seems to cruise when the team is doing well but if he feels that the team really needs him, then there’s no holding back. VVS Laxman is another such individual. They are the men for a crisis. The challenge for us is to keep them interested when it gets boring,” he further added. Let’s hope that these men realise that the crisis is already here and are in top gear right from the word go. Against good teams and there aren’t many left in world cricket – India struggle in first Tests. In their past two series against South Africa, probably the best team in the world at the moment, India lost the first Tests by big margins. In Nagpur in February 2010, they were defeated by an innings and six runs; at Centurion in December 2010 by an innings and 25 runs. In England, they lost the first Test – despite all the hype – by 196 runs. These are all big defeats and give the opposition a big boost and if there’s anything that India need to avoid… it is giving Australia a boost. The ‘talk’ would have us believe that Australia is at their weakest but the truth is that they are just weaker. They still managed to win a Test in South Africa and draw the series and one against New Zealand was drawn too; they won a series in Sri Lanka too. Australia is in transition and while there will be blips – there will also be times when the younger brigade will raise it’s hand and shine. But even though a lot has been made of their recent performances, most notably 47 all out against South Africa, but they have still to lose a series in a year. And on home turf, they are always difficult to beat. But there are cracks; cracks that the ‘talk’ tells us that India can exploit and win the series. And for now, we’ll believe it and hope that Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Zaheer, Ishant and Dhoni don’t betray that trust. So let the anticipation build… The mighty stands at the MCG, the creaking terminators, the seagulls and hard cricket- it doesn’t get better. P.S. You can log into Firstpost for live updates of the Boxing Day Test and also follow our updates on twitter: @Firstpostsports