The brown-and-olive pattern on the armoured vehicle stationed outside the team hotel didn’t quite work as a camouflage in the stylish concrete surroundings. After the frisking, scanning and X-ray searching en route to Australian skipper Ricky Ponting’s series-opening address, there was a generous sprinkling of khaki in the media room. And a few policemen in plain clothes attempted to nonchalantly mingle with the scribes but their shifty eyes and safari suits gave away their identities.

In keeping with the mood, Ponting, too, seemed to put up a front by masking the usual Aussie pre-tour aggression with a veneer of underdog humility. He started by dismissing Brett Lee’s 7-0 series prediction with mock surprise and a counter question: “Did he say that? He’s taken over from Glenn McGrath already. It’s the stuff that Glenn used to do. But we’ll wait and see how the series plays out.”

Restraint seems to be a brief for the Aussie tour party in India this time, but perhaps the ‘no bravado’ motto hasn’t yet been conveyed to those still involved with the Champions League. So non-combative was the Aussie skipper’s mindset that he misheard a blatant headline-seeking question. “Considering India defeated your team 2-0 in the tri-series final in Australia, will this be a revenge series?” he was asked. “Excuse me, did you say this will be an ‘even’ series?” Ponting asked in reply. Sitting next to him, coach Tim Nielsen stepped in to clear the confusion. “No, this is not about revenge. What’s happened in the past has happened. Whatever you want to do, you cannot change that. It does not matter even if we win 7-0 because it doesn’t change the fact that we lost to India in Australia last time,” Nielsen said.

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