Langer on India series: No room for abuse, plenty for banter

Australia’s head coach Justin Langer asserted that there would be no room for abuse when his team takes on India.

Australia head coach Justin Langer.

Australia’s head coach Justin Langer on Wednesday asserted that there would be no room for abuse when his team takes on India in an upcoming series but he expects plenty of banter between the two evenly-matched sides.

Langer, who had a reputation of being an aggressive player himself, said that in the last couple of years, the Aussies have had lots of conversations about behaviours both on and off the field.

Australia have copped quite a bit of criticism for its players’ win-at-all-cost mindset in the past which even led to a thorough examination of the side’s attitude and ethics.

“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.

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“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.

”...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.

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“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.

Earlier David Warner had stated that he would rather ignore than engage if he is sledged by the Indians in the series, which comprises three ODIs, as many T20 Internationals and four Tests.