Indian might is without malice

What goes on in the Great Indian Huddle (GIH)? We have seen it time and again but the questions remain unanswered: Do the Indian players just link arms and say, “Hurray!’’ or is the GIH a quick strategy session where each player with something to say, quickly say it.
A strategy session like that may bring up a brilliant idea; even if it doesn’t, it must make each member feel that he has contributed to the team effort.This is much more than emotional bonding (a phrase some use to disparage a relationship): this is physical, emotional and mental bonding of the highest order.
Whatever it is, people want to know. In his column on these pages, Greg Chappell said “Whatever has been done to bring about this modern miracle should be documented and placed in a shrine. If it (the strategy) could be recorded, there could be a number of prospective consumers in the cricket world willing to pay considerable royalties to access the secret.’’
Who would have believed all this just a few weeks ago when the Indian team was being dismissed as perennial under achievers? Now its strategy sessions are the subject of discussion (and, no doubt, of future books and IIM courses).
Not since Mike Brearely’s leadership transformed an ordinary English side, has the cricket world paid so much attention to the psychology of the game. There is another aspect of the Indian resurgence which hasn’t been commented upon, but which is, for me, equally important.
To see what it is, you have to look at Aussies. The team moulded by Steve Waugh to be world beaters with an unparalleled record, has many elements of Waugh’s own personality: There is a never-say-die spirit a fighting with backs-tothe-wall attitude and a ruthless we-don’t-take-prisoners philosophy.
All that’s commendable, but an essential part of the Australian attitude is arrogance and a boorishness born of that arrogance. You see it in different forms in every match, almost after every over.
What this Indian team has shown is that it is possible to be successful without being arrogant, that it is possible to be aggressive without being rude, that in the cut-throat business of modern sport, it’s not just losers who are nice.
Study the Indian team method, then, as much as you like. But add that even today you can be polite and win.