The last man to lead Australia to success in India, Adam Gilchrist, has told the players they need to embrace the Indian people and their culture if they are to have success in the upcoming series.
Cricket-mad India has presented a culture shock to generations of Australian cricketers, and Gilchrist says how Steve Smith's men handle this will be as important as overcoming any technical deficiencies with bat and ball.
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Former captain Steve Waugh famously told his players in 2001 to immerse themselves in all that India has to offer, insisting that it would be a "no-whinge tour", a theme continued under Gilchrist in 2004 when he deputised for an injured Ricky Ponting. The approach was in contrast to the attitude taken by a key member of the 2013 tour who was privately dreading spending the next seven weeks on the road.
Gilchrist spoke to several of Australia's Test squad and backroom staff, including coach Darren Lehmann and batting coach Graeme Hick, when the side was in Perth recently for the one-day international against Pakistan. He told them "attitude is all important" for the seven-week tour.
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"I was very much a follower and believer of most things Steve Waugh was talking to us about. I took that very much on board and tried to do that as much as possible, still do now. I find it a fascinating country," Gilchrist, who has business interests in India, told Fairfax Media.
"It's a country that weighs you down, too. You have highs and lows, it's an emotional roller-coaster, on the field and off the field.
"You've got to find a way to escape from it – if it's in your hotel room, but you don't want to become a prisoner to your hotel room, you have to get out there.
"It's [attitude] going to be a huge percentage of what's required. The ingredients to success is a positive attitude, not just positive like you have to use your feet and go after the spinner but everything."
Gilchrist said Waugh, in a bid to keep morale high, told the players at the start of the tour "attitudes are contagious, is yours worth catching?"
"From that, he extended it, saying this will be a 'no whinge tour'," Gilchrist said. "Forever we've come to India and we're beaten before we get here. We're whinging about the food, the conditions, the umpiring and the hotel room, the flights. We weren't allow to whinge, pretty much. It was amazing.
"It's a great question you can ask yourself every day: how you think is how you feel and that's how you're going to act, is yours worth catching? And that really helped. We didn't get the chocolates on that tour but it was a strong foundation to what lay ahead."
Australia's players were also given a mid-tour break between Tests in 2004, which allowed them to spend time in Singapore and the Maldives with family and partners. The current squad has been given time off between the second and third Tests but they will not be leaving the country.
On the field, Gilchrist said, Australia needed to buck with tradition and adopt a more conservative game plan like the 2004 team did. Smith has already foreshadowed a more defensive strategy with the bat.
"That allowed us to get into the game without being blown away and the deeper you take it the more chance you are," Gilchrist said. "The tactics will be important."
While Ponting has said a competitive series loss would be a positive, Gilchrist is drawing hope from England's strong start to their recent series against India where they fell just short of victory in the first Test. But he said it would be "frightfully difficult".
"There's no reason why they can't get there and start well and build up confidence and be competitive about challenging for the series," Gilchrist said.
"As is the way in India momentum swings, whether it's an innings, a Test or a series, once it's against you it's a hard freight train to stop."