Proteas' success a blueprint for India

If Virat Kohli doubted the magnitude of what potentially awaits his Test team in Australia, he needed only to swap notes with sparring partners in the South Africa squad when their paths fleetingly crossed in Brisbane earlier this month.

Kohli is earnestly eyeing a feat denied India's Test captains since the first touring team arrived in Australia just months after the world's largest democracy achieved independence in 1947.

But more recent history reveals it's not only teams from the physically and culturally different subcontinent that have found winning a Test series in Australia insurmountable, with the hosts only losing four campaigns on home turf in the past quarter of a century.

The fact that three of those defeats were at the hands of South Africa (in 2008-09, 2012-13 and 2016-17) suggests the Proteas have unearthed some otherwise unknown secret to taming one of the toughest foes in world cricket.

The truth, however, is that the Proteas' recent mastery – which also includes dominant victories in the past two bilateral ODI series and a 3-1 win in this year's fractious Test battle in South Africa – is essentially a hard-nosed competitiveness forged from the bitter memories of past disappointments.

The same sort of wide-eyed combativeness that Kohli brings to his Test outfit, now ranked number one in the world but still unable to crack series wins in England or South Africa over the past year.

Among the few who can match Kohli's level of on-field combustibility is South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn, who admits he was deeply moved by the reaction of his senior teammates when the Proteas broke through for their historic first series win in Australia a decade ago.

Although Steyn dominated the second Test of that three-match series in Melbourne – his 10 wickets and career-high 76 earning man-of-the-match honours as the visitors clinched the trophy – it was the bus ride from the MCG back to the team hotel at game's end that remains at memory's forefront.

The outpouring from Proteas' veterans, the likes of captain Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher underscored the importance of their win, not only for those who had known short shrift in the past but for cricket fans at home who saw Australia as almost an unconquerable peak.

"We had just gone two-nil up, and seeing Kallis, Bouch, Smithy, Neil McKenzie, how they were reacting…" Steyn told cricket.com.au recently.

"Some of them were crying because they had been here so many times and been beaten so badly – to come down here and win was never easy.

"So to see them tick off their list of achievements was pretty special."

Steyn said that in addition to the simmering will to alter the absence of success that had defined South Africa's eight preceding Test tours, dating back to 1910-11, there had been changes to the off-field structure that were already showing demonstrable on-field improvements.

Most notably, the Proteas' 2008 series win in England – their first on British soil since readmission to world cricket following the dismantling of apartheid race laws in South Africa – that was overseen by then-coach (later Australia supremo) Mickey Arthur.

"We'd beaten England in England, and we'd played some good cricket in-between leading up to that December period (in Australia), so we were very confident," Steyn recalled.

"We had Jeremy Snape (former England allrounder turned high performance coach) who had come on board for that year, him and Mickey Arthur were doing some fantastic things with the side, some things that a lot of guys had never really done before.

"I was pretty fresh in the side, but every year I saw things start to change.

"Even when I joined in 2004, when I think back now, we've really become a lot more professional.

"I thought back then it was professional, but we have come a long way.

"And I think it kind of started with Mickey and Jeremy when they really started to make strides in the mental side of the game, and later we got guys like Paddy Upton (former India mental conditioning coach) who was fantastic.

"But I think the side started to have a real mental shift between May-June, up until December that specific year, and I think that's why we did so well in England and in Australia."

Since their previous Test tour to Australia four years ago, India have also installed a new coach (Ravi Shastri) and have recently completed a visit to England (where they lost 4-1), but it remains to be seen how successfully they can redress their shortcomings in Australia.

Where India have won just five of 44 Tests played across seven decades.

Current South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, who made his Test debut during the 2012-13 Australia Test tour in which the Proteas proved their prior success was no aberration, believes it's those painful memories of humiliations past that continues to motivate the present-day team.

He recalled his maiden Test visit to Australia, during which he made a memorable debut in single-handedly defying Australia's bowlers to salvage a draw for his team in Adelaide and set-up a subsequent series win, and the feeling that pervaded the Proteas' dressing rooms.

"The guys always spoke about how hard it is coming to Australia, and players like Kallis and Smith and Boucher, who have been here their whole careers and before that (2008-09) series had never won," du Plessis told cricket.com.au.

"As a guy coming into the team who was a youngster, I could see how emotional it was for them because they've come to Australia, and left Australia with their tails between their legs most of the time.

"But then coming back next time when I was captain (in 2016-17) …  I phoned Graeme Smith, and asked him about a few learnings or a few points that he remembered from the last series from a captaincy point of view, if there was anything that he could help me with."

Unfortunately for Kohli, he can't seek out advice from a captaincy predecessor who has known Test series success in Australia.

But in understanding what is required to take down Australia on their own patch – as a top-order batter, and as leader – du Plessis claims Kohli's men will enter the four-Test Doman Series with a level of belief that few, if any, earlier India touring parties have brought here.

"I think India would perhaps be the most confident they've been coming here because they would see there's an opportunity – (firstly) with the two main batters being out of the (Australia) side," du Plessis said in reference to the ongoing suspensions being served by Steve Smith and David Warner.

"But also for the first time I think India has a pace attack to challenge teams around the world, or away from their own conditions.

"They are extremely tough to beat at home because their pitches spin square and they've got unbelievable spinners, and a lot of them, so they can play three or four spinners and just bowl spin all day.

"But what I find with them now is, for the first time, they've got three or four seamers in their squad that can bowl 140(kph)-plus and are very good bowlers.

"Obviously when you come to conditions like South Africa, Australia, England, you need pace bowlers and in the past they might have had one or two, but now they've got three or four.

"And when they travelled in South Africa (earlier this year), we felt like that was the best pace (attack) that they've had.

"They had a very, very good three-match Test series which we won 2-1, so I think they will come over here with high expectations.

"It's important, though, that their seam bowlers need to be fit.

"In England, they had two of those seam bowlers who were injured so I think if that happened, then Australia would be massive favourites.

"But if they come with a fully fit pace attack, I think it will be a fifty-fifty split."

Steyn, who has experienced a solitary defeat from his seven Test appearances in Australia to date, also believes that India's wealth of seam-bowling stocks represents their best chance of defying 70 years of luckless history.

However, it's also due to Australia's strength in that area that he leans marginally towards the home team to maintain India's misery in Test arenas here.

"Even in England, I put my money on England to beat India in England, but India pushed them," Steyn said.

"I thought that England's bowling would be the thing that pipped India, but India's bowling really surprised me and if they continue in that vein they could cause some trouble down here.

"I think they've been a bit smarter in the way that they're playing cricket.

"Years ago they used to play a lot of spinners, they would even come down here (Australia) and play someone like Ashwin who would probably have a Test average in Australia of like 50 (currently 54.71).

"Now they are smart enough to say, 'sorry Ashwin, we're not going to play you in this Test match', and even though he's one of the world's best spinners they'll go with another quick, or somebody who's more suitable for the conditions.

"It's going to be an interesting Test series, and if Virat (Kohli) scores runs – and we know Virat always scores runs – India will do well.

"But I'd probably go with Australia, just in terms of history against India.

"The amount of touring they (India) have had this year, the guys might be a bit tired."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval

Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar