Psychological warfare under the towering presence of Gabba

The condiment of spice generally remains at the heart of the India-Australia feast. Verbal shots are fired much before the players take center-stage to let their bat and ball do the talking. A loud shout out to the rival's strength, which is nothing but an empty gesture to feed their egos and lull them into a false sense of vanity. Sledging, that is most often harmless banter but could veer towards the nasty and nefarious at the drop of a hat is also very much present. The beer-drenched spectators do not mince their words either, crossing the line so flagrantly once back in 2012 that the boundary rider, an esteemed one for that matter, couldn't help but flip the bird in retort. With the firebrands at each other's throats, you wonder whether the heat of the battle contributes to global warming. 

However, the ongoing tour comes across as a white sheep in a black herd. Let alone the psychological warfare, there's been plenty of love-sloshing in the air. Be it Marnus Labuschagne doffing his baggy green to Ravichandran Ashwin's tactical nous or Pat Cummins not being tight-lipped when it came to complimenting his KKR teammate Shubman Gill, the hosts have fancied introspection and been rather willing to dispense credit where it's due. The cricket itself has been bold as brass in terms of competitiveness with both sides refusing to concede an inch. But the on-field altercations and media shenanigans lay largely on the backburner. 

It was all fun and games until India expressed their reluctance to play the fourth and final Test in Brisbane. Their sudden scepticism over travelling to Queensland stems from reports that they might be subjected to stringent quarantine restrictions yet again. India have been adamant on the demand that after serving the mandatory 14-day period, they must be treated like anyone else around Australia, with regards to freedom of movement. And with apprehension now that they would be confined to a less porous bubble which is likely to restrict their excursions from hotel to stadium and back upon reaching Brisbane, via Sydney, the visitors are far from impressed. 

But so are Australia, who've wasted little time in accusing India of making a mountain out of a molehill. Fielding coach Brad Haddin even went to the extent of alleging them of creating all this nuisance to avoid dealing with their fortress named Gabba - a venue where India have never won a Test and Australia haven't lost one in the last 28 years. Just when you thought the Richter scale reading of the current series would bear a serenely level path, there's some zapping turbulence to revert the state of affairs to type. 

“From a cricket point of view, why would India want to go to the Gabba? No one wins at the Gabba! Australia plays really good cricket there and no one’s won for a really long time (besides Australia),'' Haddin told Fox Cricket.

“There’s a lot of moving parts here. The one thing is these guys have been in a bubble for a long, long time and they might just start to be getting a little bit tired. But you can’t move a Test match - if a state doesn’t have any virus - just because you’re over the quarantine," the former wicketkeeper added.

The former wicket-keeper batsman also pointed out that India boarded the flight to Australia well aware of the stringent protocols that would be in place. "You came to Australia knowing exactly what was going to happen. You knew there were restrictions, you knew this could’ve happened. Yes, it’s been a long time now they’ve been in quarantine, first with IPL and now with the Australian summer,” he reasoned. 

“It’s the same with the Australian teams (the safety measures), we haven’t heard them whinge and they’ve just got on with it. To me, it just looks like they’re trying not to play at the Gabba,” Haddin finished with a bang. 

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon, standing on the verge of notching up a century of Tests, jumped on the bandwagon too, urging the naysayers to comply with the rules and regulations at any cost. "I know there's a few people from both squads who've been in a bubble for close to six months now, but in my eyes it's a very small sacrifice for us to get out there and play the game that we love and put a lot of smiles on a lot of people's faces around the world, so in my eyes, we just have to suck it up and get on with it and get out there and play cricket for our respective countries and make sure that we're playing a really competitive brand of cricket." he appealed. 

Notwithstanding the myriad speculations making rounds of India casting a disapproving glance at Brisbane, Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia's chief executive, cleared the board's stance by specifying that BCCI hasn't given anything in writing, which implies that the schedule will go ahead as per planned. In retrospect, the whole fiasco amounted to zilch and we've come a full circle. Nonetheless, it fit the missing piece in the India-Australia jigsaw.

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