IND vs AUS: Australian Coach Langer Expects Plenty Of Banter, Rules Out Any Room For Abuse In Series

Langer said that the Australian team of the present is a bit different from what the 'Baggy Greens' used to be a decade back as they had brought about a change in their way they approached the game on the field.

Justin Langer (Getty Images)

Australia cricket team's head coach Justin Langer on Wednesday made it quite clear that he expects plenty of banter between the two highly competitive teams but ruled out any room for using abuses or slurs by Australian cricketers during the highly anticipated Test series between the heavyweights. Langer, who was part of Australia's golden era which dominated Test cricket like the mighty Windies of the 70-80s said that times were different when he played as a player alongside legends like Warne, McGrath, Ponting and Gilchrist and opponents often were awestruck competing against such great players. “If you’re facing Warney (Shane Warne), Glenn McGrath or bowling against Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist or Ricky Ponting I think that makes you more nervous than a few words that might be spoken,” he recalled. Australia who have have been known to play mind games against visiting teams in their highly successful Steve Waugh-Ricky Ponting Era of the late 90s and 2000s have been subject to severe criticism by opponents for getting under the skin of players to win at any cost. Langer said that the Australian team of the present is a bit different from what the 'Baggy Greens' used to be a decade back as they had brought about a change in their way they approached the game on the field. “People say you get nervous coming to Australia, I’m not sure it’s about the chatter. It’s because they’re coming up against very, very great players,” Langer said in an online media interaction ahead of the series starting Friday with the first ODI. “…anyone who has watched the last couple of years we talk about our behaviours on and off the field and we talked about there’s no room for abuse. There’s plenty of room for banter and having that competitive instinct.” Langer said that given the great cricketers, who will be playing the series, the competitive energy would be intense enough on its own. Langer said that given the sheer pedigree of high quality Test cricketers on either sides, the Test series will be intensely fought as there will be those fierce battles between players amid the dimension of a competitive match. “The captain Tim Paine has a great sense of humour, we love what VK (Virat Kohli) was doing, there’s a great sense of theatre to it. At the end of the day, I can promise you the pressure on the cricket field has nothing to do with the words spoken, it’s the person you’re up against. “We’re lucky in this series there’ll be a lot of great cricketers and that’s enough intensity let alone any words spoken,” added the head coach.