The Indians' Mindset Was Impressive

Bowling coach Bruce Reid, who did not give the Indiansmuch of a chance before the Test series against Australia, is now a huge admirerof the team and believes other Test nations could learn a lot from them.

Reid initially did not think the Indians would offermuch challenge to the Australians but he is now a convert and admires the workethics of the visitors.

"I was so impressed with their mindset. There ismuch to learn from the Indians for the other Test nations," Reid said.

A former Australian star, Reid joined the Indiansbefore the first Test at the Gabba last month and gives an eye-witness accountof what cooked in the team meetings and the visitors' dressing room as theynearly toppled the world champions from their lofty perch.

"They were just not worried about individualreputations. They just played as they saw it. At team meetings they barelymentioned the names of the Australian bowlers.

"They played each ball as they saw it but it wasirrelevant who bowled it. I know they rated Jason Gillespie very highly but theyfelt the more they talked the bowlers up the more of an issue they would becomeso they hardly spoke of them," Raid said referring to the success of theIndian batsmen on the tour.

Reid witnessed the Indians master Australian bowling and completely neutralisethe spin of Stuart MacGill, who averaged 26.31 before the series but had returnsof 50.79 for his effort against the Indians.

"When coach John Wright tried to teach his playershow to play spin they laughed at him. They just believe you should use your batall the time against spin and it seems to get them in far less trouble. All ofthem play that way. They just try to avoid pad play."

Reid found Indians less worked up about theirtechniques even though some of them possessed the best-organised methods to playpace or spin bowling.

"For all their technical mastery, the Indianbatsmen backed their instincts and were not overtly obsessed about makingtechnical adjustments to cope with conditions and pitches.

"They never got technical about things at all. Inthe nets, you would never hear them talking about their backlift or where theirtop hand was. They just played."

The Indians were not concerned about green pitches,said Reid, and they were markedly different from other teams who go into apsychological shell even before they pad up on Australian wickets.

"They just didn't worry at all whether the wickets were fast or slow orwhatever. It was the same with practice wickets," Reid said.

"I've played in teams who have whinged aboutpractice wickets but it never worried the Indians. They'd just go in and have abash and not worry."

Reid believes one of the unsung heroes for the visitorsin the Test series was Aakash Chopra who nearly always played out the new ball,shielding the middle-order batsmen.

"He never made a 50 in the Tests but you cannotunderestimate the role he played in sticking around to protect Rahul Dravid fromthe new ball.

"It just made a huge difference and it's been along time since any openers have done as well in Australia. He is sogutsy."

Even though the Indians never quite discussed theAustralian bowlers, they spent a lot of time in dissecting the home batsmen,planning to trap Justin Langer leg before wicket with in-swingers and bowl fulland straight to Adam Gilchrist and at most of the batsmen.

"We just tried to match Australia in the firstinnings and then hoped Anil Kumble would give us an edge in the second. Wereally tried to keep the pressure on but it was very hard. They just score soquickly," said Reid.

PTI