Since their incredible win in the 1999 World Cup, the Australians have taken their cricket one level ahead of the other major international teams. Their record in Test cricket speaks for itself and they have also won most limited-overs tournaments in which they have participated in the last five years, including the 2003 World Cup.

There are several reasons for their success, but the foremost is the way they prepare themselves to tackle the challenges they confront. They start preparing for a series well before it starts. Their team management analyzes the nature of the opposition and conditions they are likely to face, and keeping that in mind, they chalk out precise strategies. The players know exactly what they are supposed to do. Their pursuit of victory is made easier by the fact that they have a bunch of players who are not only extremely talented, but also very strong, physically and mentally. The Australian cricketers in their formative years play a lot of outdoor sports like Rugby, Australian Rules Football etc, that enhance their agility. They also do a lot of work in the gym and believe in investing a lot of intensity in their training sessions.

The sporting culture in their land helps them cultivate their confidence from a very early age. They back their natural, fighting instincts and play positively, whatever be the situation. This was evident in the 2001 Mumbai Test when they were 99-5 and struggling, and Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist just went after the bowling and scored brillant, match-winning hundreds. Of course, their positive attitude has also let them down sometimes, like at Adelaide in 2003, when after taking a narrow lead in the first innings, they came out all guns blazing in the second innings on a wicket that had got a little slower and was not as conducive to stroke-play as it had been on the first couple of days. They ended up being bowled out for less than 200 and we posted our first Test win in Australia in 22 years.

There were and are several Australian cricketers whom I admire. Greg Chappell was a childhood hero, and I later became a fan of Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist. I loved Steve's grit and determination, and Gilly's belligerence. I learnt a lot watching Steve bat. His penchant for bailing his team out of trouble made a huge impression on me. The greatness of a player should be measured by the manner in which he plays when the chips are down, and Steve proved time and again over the years that he was a champion in this regard. Who can forget his 200 against the West Indies in 1994-95, and also the match-winning 120 against South Africa in the Super Six game of the 1999 World Cup?
 

'Gilly' is the most positive cricketer I have come across. He oozes confidence all the time, irrespective of his performance in the match. He believes in training very hard and giving 100 % on the field. I remember the chat we had after the Adelaide Test last year. He dropped Rahul (Dravid) early in the second innings when we were chasing a target of 230. Rahul went on to score an unbeaten 72 and we won the game. Gilly told me that he would have been very disappointed with the spilt chance if he hadn't taken similar catches during his practice sessions. Not practising and then missing a relatively simple catch would have made him feel that he had let his team down. But his conscience was clear, and it was just an error that he wanted to forget and get on with the next game. A wicketkeeper-batsman who takes 237 catches, affects 25 stumpings, averages 51 with the bat and scores 12 hundreds in Test cricket at a rapid-fire pace (and I am not even referring to his limited-overs record) has to be special, and it speaks volumes about the strength of Australia's batting that he has to bat as low as no. 7!

The gap between the Australian and Indian team in terms of attitude has reduced substantially in recent times. We are also playing positive cricket, which is why we are winning more matches. But the main thing that we have to learn from them is consistency. We are also performing much better overseas and our fitness levels have also improved.

Australia's cricketing infrastructure is sound, and that is exactly what the BCCI is trying to emulate. Our National Cricket Academy has been modelled on the Australian Academy, which has produced several international cricketers. The BCCI has taken steps to provide every state association with a gym and made a physio and fitness trainer mandatory components of all teams at the first-class level.

It takes a lot of planning and loads of patience, coupled with hard work, to become the best team in the world. I am confident that with time, India can become the best side in the world. In trying to imbibe the positive qualities of the Australians, we are certainly on the right track.
 

- By VVS Laxman