'If one comes your way....' - Former coach Ravi Shastri reveals how Team India tackled Australia's sledging

Team India had a drastic change of approach under Virat Kohli-Ravi Shastri. Under Kohli-Shastri, India had a dominant run across formats, especially in bilateral series, but were most impressive in the red-ball format. Thus, India were at the No. 1 spot in ICC Test Rankings for a long period of time, played the inaugural WTC final, dominated at home and even tasted success in SENA countries.

While India came close to beating South Africa in three Tests in the African nation, in early 2018, they lost the series 2-1. In England, they lost 4-1 in 2018 before turning it around with an unassailable 2-1 lead in an incomplete five-match Test series in 2021. They struggled in New Zealand but won two series on the trot versus Australia in their own backyard during the Kohli-Shastri era.

Shastri became the first Asian coach to win a series in Australia when Kohli & Co. won 2-1 in the 2018/19 tour. The series scoreline remained the same when India toured Australia and played the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under in 2020/21. Thus, it is safe to claim that the national side's playing style, mannerism and body language went through a rapid change under Shastri's coaching and Kohli's leadership.

Reflecting on India's twin success in Australia, Shastri recently spilled the beans on how he pumped up the Indian players and helped them in tackling the Aussies' sledging. "It was also outlining how we want to play: to be aggressive and ruthless, to up the fitness levels, to get a group of fast bowlers to take 20 wickets overseas. And it was about attitude, especially when playing the Aussies. I told the boys if one single expletive comes your way, give them three back: two in our language and one in theirs," said Shastri to theGuardian.

While Cheteshwar Pujara, Kohli, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah were India's star performers in the 2-1 Test series win over Australia in 2018/19, the visitors overcame various obstacles (injury concerns, Covid-19 bio-bubbles, sledging, racism) and played sans regular captain Kohli to triumph in the 2020/21 series Down Under. Back then, several youngsters such as Md Siraj, Shubman Gill, Pant, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan, etc. stood tall along with contributions from stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane, Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin.