Documentary reveals Aussie plans for ‘Everest’ India tour

The methods and manner Australia's men's Test team will employ to try and break their 19-year series-losing streak in India have come into clearer focus in a latest behind-the-scenes documentary.

Amazon Original's 'The Test' season two, which premieres on Prime Video this week, follows the highs and lows of Pat Cummins' team from the time of his appointment as skipper just weeks prior to last summer's Ashes campaign, through to their subsequent tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The four-episode documentary provides some revealing insights into the myriad characters that make up the current team, including Cummins' passion for books, spinner Nathan Lyon's ambition to master Auslan sign language and even Marnus Labuschagne's curious culinary predilection.

But with the touring party for the upcoming Qantas Tour of India named this week, it's perhaps the mindset and the strategies they took into their two previous visits to Asia that delivers the timeliest glimpses.

While England unleashed their sledgehammer 'Baz ball' tactics to smash Pakistan 3-0 in their remarkable series late last year, Australia's blueprint was to keep constantly chipping away, retaining faith their plans would work until finally a crack appeared in the opposition.

Image Id: F541796BA16241D2894C2F49F80B4ED1 Image Caption: Australia team members at ‘The Test’ premiere in Sydney // Prime Video

It ultimately proved successful in Pakistan where a gruelling deadlock on mercilessly flat pitches was finally resolved on the last day of the three-Test campaign Australia won 1-0, and worked in the first Test of their drawn 1-1 series in strife-torn Sri Lanka.

India has been variously described as the Test team's final frontier by ex-skipper Steve Waugh (who was unable to secure success there) while former coach Justin Langer labelled it 'Everest' when he took over the job in 2018.

Cummins said in the wake of Australia's 2-0 win over South Africa in the recently concluded NRMA Insurance Series he believed his team covers all contingencies likely to be faced on the subcontinent, and hold as good a chance as any of his predecessors of regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

And he cites the teams in which Waugh and Langer were regular members – the Australia men's outfit of the late 1990s and early 2000s that conquered every challenge, culminating in the 2004 India triumph under Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting – as the benchmark his men aim to reach.

"They won in India, they won in England," Cummins says in 'The Test', noting Australia follow their India assignment with a five-Test Ashes tour to the UK in June and July.

"That Test team, no matter where they (went) in the world, they could adapt.

"That's the gold standard. That's what you aspire to."

One of the keys to taking their successful record at home, where they have not been defeated in a Test for two summers, to the subcontinent (where prior to the Pakistan success they won just two series from eight attempts stretching back to 2006) is shelving the approach that works here.

"In Australia, you keep the field in with the new ball, try and make the most of it," Cummins reveals.

"In the subcontinent, it's the opposite.

"The new ball does nothing, so you put the field out to stop the ball just pinging off the bat and then you hope it starts reversing.

"Then you sense an opportunity, and that's when you go 'voom'."

That strategy failed to pay dividends in last year's opening Test at Rawalpindi where the pitch was so flat and unresponsive just 14 wickets fell for almost 1200 runs across five days, leading Lyon to rate it in the documentary as the "worst-ever game I've been involved in".

Come the second match at Karachi, Australia's blueprint seemed set to deliver after they piled on a huge first innings total and demolished Pakistan for 148, heading into the final day needing eight wickets for victory with the home team chasing a fanciful 505 in their second innings.

"Very rarely here in the subcontinent do you get so far ahead of the game, the opportunity on the fifth day (with) eight wickets to go," Cummins tells his team before the final day.

"I think we can play with a bit more smiles on our faces as well.

"Make sure we enjoy ourselves – where else in the world would you rather be than out here today?"

But Pakistan hung on for a draw on the back of skipper Babar Azam's 196 and, with the series on the line at Lahore, Cummins stuck to the strategy, consoling his exhausted troops that while the results hadn't flowed the mindset of "seizing the right moment" would eventually bear fruit.

And that moment arrived on day three at Lahore when, having piled on 391 in their first innings, Australia were struggling with Pakistan cruising at 1-170 when Lyon had opener Abdullah Shafiq caught by keeper Alex Carey.

"Nathan Lyon took a wicket and it's like 'nup, Nath you're off – quick bowlers on'," Cummins explains.

"That was the moment in that Test match, where it was just hold, hold, hold, hold – now, the ball feels scuffed like it's going to start reversing.

"Bring on Starcy, bring on me, sense that opportunity and 'bang'."

In recognising that moment to switch into attack mode - rather than risk surrendering runs by pushing too hard, too early – Cummins and Mitchell Starc tore through Pakistan's batting as nine wickets fell for 98 to set up another final day victory push.

Despite having fallen agonisingly short a Test earlier, Cummins reminded his players as they returned to the field midway through the fifth day the "main thing (is) stay calm out there".

As then interim coach Andrew McDonald, who has since been appointed Langer's successor, notes in the wake of the Lahore Test win: "The thing I'm most proud of is we stuck to a plan."

"We stuck to it, and on the fifteenth day (of the series) we got the reward."

It's that preparedness to remain patient and not chase the game, even when the opposition gets on a run and crowds are baying and the cloying heat is closing in, that will be crucial if Australia is to succeed in India where the four previous touring Australia teams have won a solitary Test.

"We knew when we bowled, we had to control our lengths," opener David Warner says of the Pakistan series in the documentary.

"We knew we had to set boring fields.

"We held our nerve and the bowlers did an extremely amazing job.

"They held their line and lengths and created pressure."

As Warner's opening partner Usman Khawaja explains, the faith shown by coaches and players in a game plan provides a stark contrast to previous Australia tours to the subcontinent.

In particular, Khawaja cites the 2016 campaign in Sri Lanka where Australia started strongly with the ball in the opening Test at Pallekele before being utterly bamboozled by the home team's array of spinners and crashing to a humiliating 0-3 defeat.

"I thought we had the perfect game plan for the first Test and we probably should have won it," Khawaja reflects in 'The Test'.

"The process and everything we were doing was perfect.

"But then when we lost that (first) game, we started second-guessing ourselves and we had three different plans for three different games.

"And I think we've got to be really strong in our own belief to go with the plan that we have the first time is most likely the right plan."

Khawaja reveals that that tour caused him nightmares, while Warner used far more colourful terminology to recount his memories.

And fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who looms as a key figure in the opening phase of the India campaign with Starc to be sidelined for at least the first Test with a finger injury, claims a failure to recognise that different challenges require changed approaches is a reason for past failings.

"Just not adapting quick enough to the conditions," Hazlewood says in suggesting why Australia have struggled on subcontinent pitches so often.

"Sort of like 'this is the way I play, and this is how I'm going to play', and it just doesn't work in Sri Lanka."

That willingness to accept methods that bring results at home simply don't translate to markedly different conditions is exemplified by all-rounder Cameron Green, who made his Test debut in the summer of 2020-21 with his first offshore experiences being Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Green notes that, upon being confronted by spin-friendly pitches the likes of which he had never encountered at Galle last year, he took it upon himself to radically change his approach to batting that was rewarded with a game-high 77 in Australia's first Test win against Sri Lanka.

"Geez, I think I need to sweep to survive," Green says he told himself early in his innings that earned him player of the match honours.

"I hadn't swept much, maybe swept one or two balls in professional cricket before then.

"You have to tell yourself 'I have to fully commit to this'.

"You've just got to be brave."

As captured eloquently in the documentary, that Sri Lanka series was played against the backdrop of unfolding political unrest which followed Australia's first visit to Pakistan in 24 years because of the ever-present security threats in that country.

But in explaining the philosophy the Australia squad took into both those assignments, and which they will carry to India where life is vastly different to what they experience during a home summer, Cummins believes a key is learning more about their destinations and embracing those disparities.

"It's our responsibility going to those places that we don't go in entitled," he says.

The captain also told his team that despite the innings defeat in the final Test at Galle last year, some of the key criteria they benchmark themselves against such as capacity to remain calm and composed when events are against them were "brilliant".

It's reflective of the environment Cummins has looked to instil across the team since Tim Paine's unexpectedly hasty departure as captain prior to last summer's Ashes, and in the wake of similarly sudden loss of Langer as coach.

A theme that appears throughout 'The Test' is the playing group wanting to "own their own space", which former skipper Steve Smith describes as "trusting each individual's preparation, and with that obviously you've got to perform".

A more recent example of that philosophy is Khawaja's revelation during the final NRMA Insurance Test against South Africa, where he scored an unbeaten 195, that he's not been required to take part in pre-play warm-ups for the past seven Tests.

He claims its part of the current Test set-up's desire to allow players greater freedom in choosing the methods that work best for them, and to cut down on the number of unnecessary "fluff meetings" as the veteran opener labelled them.

"The players wanted to create their own environment," Cummins explains in the documentary.

"It's us taking responsibility for the team."

The desire to reclaim that responsibility is also seen as a catalyst for the change in coach, with Langer declining to accept Cricket Australia's offer of a six-month contract extension last year having led the men's team to the T20 World Cup title in the UAE and a 4-0 Ashes triumph at home.

In citing his wish for a relaxed player environment, while noting that was his preference and other members of the team might hold different views, Cummins explains "some people felt like they were walking on eggshells".

Warner provides perhaps the keenest insight into the inner sanctum's thinking at that time of tumult prior to the Pakistan tour last year.

"People express passion in different ways, and for Justin his was riding every ball," Warner says.

"From my perspective, I can say yeah, he lost a fair few players, and probably the wrong players."

That view is also expressed by Lyon, who says: "I've always said you can never criticise anyone who's extremely passionate in what they do, and that's what JL (Langer) is.

"Did I struggle with some of the ups and downs? Yeah."

However, there was also widespread gratitude and respect for the role Langer had played in picking up the group in the wake of the 2018 sandpaper incident and restoring their collective reputations both on and off the field.

"He was brilliant when we needed him in those initial years," Cummins says of his former coach.

"Here are the expectations, here are the values, and we needed to hear that.

"We needed someone to tell us that, to hold us to that."

That view is echoed by Khawaja, who had visibly queried some of Langer's methods in the first season of 'The Test', but notes: "I genuinely believe JL brought humility back in the Australian cricket team".

Smith, who was captain prior to Langer's appointment in the aftermath of the incendiary 2018 series in South Africa, reflects poignantly: "He left the team in a better place than when he started."

The documentary also contains a vignette from the team's initial meeting after arriving in Pakistan last year, the first time they had come together as a group after Langer stood down.

Cummins notes events of the recent past and asks if any member of the touring party has questions about what transpired or seeks further clarification about any matters relating to it.

None are forthcoming.

Cummins' team is about to embark on a playing schedule that will not only define their place in Australia's Test history, but potentially shape their enduring legacy.

With the chance to complete a breakthrough series win in India, potentially land an historic World Test Championship title in June followed by their opportunity to secure a first away Ashes series win since 2001, the success of the 'own your space' mantra will be very publicly scrutinised and judged.

"Players taking ownership was one of biggest steps we've taken in the last six years," allrounder Mitchell Marsh says in 'The Test'.

"Whether we're any good … time will tell."

Qantas Border-Gavaskar Tour of India 2023

First Test: February 9-13, Nagpur, 3pm AEDT

Second Test: February 17-21, Delhi, 3pm AEDT

Third Test: March 1-5, Dharamsala, 3pm AEDT

Fourth Test: March 9-13, Ahmedabad, 3pm AEDT

First ODI: March 17, Mumbai, 7pm AEDT

Second ODI: March 19, Vizag, 7pm AEDT

Third ODI: March 22, Chennai, 7pm AEDT