Yesterday being Christmas I had some relatives coming over to my house to discuss not about the goodies they received but what makes team Australia invincible?

All my cousins (most working in MNCs) are historians of the game in their own right and given a chance can write volumes on cricketers who have more than 5000 test and ODI runs. Each one of us started analyzing factors which made Aussies the team that they are.

The questions that poured out in no time were…

- What makes them so consistent?
- Do they have a success formula?
- Do they have players with extraordinary talent?
- How have they redefined test cricket?
- How do they manage to pull off unbelievable victories?
- How do they manage to get a wicket when they need one?
- How at least one Aussie scores a ton in every innings?
- Do they know what a Draw or Loss in test cricket is?
- Why do they win so consistently abroad?
- Have they perfected the art of putting up 500+ scores and dismissing opponents for less than 150? Etc…

Each guy had a volley of answers to support the above queries, but the answer was an almost YES, that it’s indeed a Herculean task to defeat the Aussies in tests…at least for the time being.

A lot has been written and said about the Aussies for the last decade or so, but as we are about to find a fault in their armory they come up with a solution. To put it in simple words, the Aussies are a team which consists of individuals who exactly know what their role is by just following these 10 golden rules…

• Study the past and present of each and every opponent player
• Play on the opponents mind and patience after all its nothing but a mind game
• Make every batsman feel that we have a plan for him
• Go for the kill from the word ‘GO’
• Play as if it’s your last match
• Acknowledge the batsman if he gets the better of you
• Aggression is the key to Winning
• Do the basics right
• Never play for records
• And always take pride in being an Aussie

Kris Shrikkanth had recently said that the best way to tackle the mighty Aussies is to have no strategy…fine, agreed that this could be a good way to tackle them but tackling doesn’t mean winning ‘coz cricket is all about winning—right!

I think Aussies are simply invincible because of their passion for the game, they know that no one is indispensable, it’s possible and it’s YOU who has to do IT.