An Indian journalist has taken a curious look at how the Australian public treats Pat Cummins’ Aussie cricket team, surprised that it is “not unequivocally loved” despite all its achievements.

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Writing for the Indian Express, Sriram Veera delivered a piece asking: “Why is this Australian team not so loved at home but liked more outside the country?” He ventured into the market a couple of kilometres from Adelaide Oval for some opinions.

“Archie, possibly in his 60’s, isn’t too happy. Not with the forecast but with the Australian team. ‘Don’t worry, even if two days gets washed out, this Australian team will lose in just three days. Too bloody soft. Too woke. And now they are in-fighting also.’ And he is off poking at what seems a rather oversized cabbage,” Veera wrote.

“It’s not a random cabbage-loving fan that is talking on those terms. For a while now, Pat Cummins’s Australian team has been copping it amongst a certain section of fans, media, and even former cricketers. ‘Captain Woke’, ‘UnAustralian’, ‘Too soft’, ‘Too friendly’ and such. And this is a team that has won nearly everything under the sun: Test championship, ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup.”

Veera noted past controversies around Cummins’ stance on Cricket Australia’s former Alinta Energy sponsorship, and also the Black Lives Matter movement. “And now even as Australia is striving to be more diverse and if possible be inclusive in that diversity, Pat Cummins’ team probably should be poster boys of that brave new world. But they aren’t.”

Veera continued, addressing Australia’s apparent generational divide: “A soft team wouldn’t have done what [Alex] Carey did to run out [Jonny] Bairstow, a soft leader won’t have the courage to bowl first in a World Cup final in Ahmedabad. Australians of the past used to impose their ego on the opponents. Australians, under Cummins, try to use the ego of the opponents, sucking them into mistakes.

“…To leave the definitions of Australianism or the Australian way to an older section of people, be it fans or cricketers, is not ideal. Cummins knows it as he once put pithily, “What is this supposed Australian way, I don’t know”. The problem is that the cabbage-hunter in the old Adelaide market thinks he knows it, and so this tussle between the new and old is likely to continue in this sun-burnt country for a while yet.”

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Meanwhile, the Indian press remains focused on the comeback of captain Rohit Sharma and his place in the batting order.

The Hindustan Times analysed some words from former Indian player Sanjay Manjrekar, who believes the skipper should bat first-drop and give more cover to another returning batter, Shubman Gill.

“As per his ideal batting line-up, India would benefit if Rohit bats at No. 3 and the returning Gill goes two spots down to five. India made Gill the successor to Cheteshwar Pujara at No. 3 in the series against England in the first half of this year, and while he’s fared reasonably well, scoring 179 runs from 4 Tests at an average of 44.75, the fact that Shubman is playing his first match of the series, would bode well for him and the team, reckons Manjrekar.

“‘I think Gill, considering that he is playing his first Test match of the series, No. 5 would actually ensure more of a success and contribution. For Rohit Sharma, it (No.3) won’t be a massive difference from opening the innings and batting at No. 5. So No. 3 would be a nice compromise,’ he added.

“‘And I think while we are on this topic, maybe Indian cricket must also reach a stage where they don’t give too much importance to batting positions like you have in T20 cricket. Do whatever makes cricketing sense and that’s also something that the Indian team management might think about.’”

Writing for the Deccan Herald, Madhu Jawali said that Rohit was working on a particular element of his batting ahead of the Adelaide day-nighter.

“With assistant coach Abhishek Nayar keeping a close eye, Rohit spent close to 40 minutes facing throwdowns and reserve pacers with Nayar passing on inputs every four-five balls. Nayar appeared to be working on getting Rohit’s feet movement right wherein the right-hander batted with a slightly open stance with minimal trigger movement, be it the forward press or the back and across shuffle,” Jawali wrote.

“Given the extra bounce on the Australian pitches, committing on the front foot or going too far back in the crease can be tricky for negotiating the bounce becomes a difficult job. Virat Kohli found out in the first innings in Perth but got his act right in the second. Whenever Rohit got it right on the day, albeit in practice, it elicited a ‘class work’ remark from Nayar.”

Writing for The Times of India, Gaurav Gupta had some other Indian team news.

“Off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar is set to continue in the India XI and will, in all probability, feature in the second Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the pink-ball match at Adelaide from December 6, TOI has learnt,” Gupta wrote.

“‘There’s a 90% chance that Sundar will play in the second Test against Australia at Adelaide Oval,’ a reliable source in the BCCI told TOI.

“In a surprising move, India’s team management preferred Sundar over veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja in the first Test at Perth, which the visitors won by 295 runs. The Tamil Nadu tweaker took 0-1 and 2-48, and scored 4 and 29.”

Meanwhile the Deccan Chronicle carried comments from former England captain Alastair Cook, lauding the bravery shown by India so far Down Under.

“I thought India was so brave. I thought that first, you know, they win the toss and bat on that wicket, you look there, even though there’s only 150 they got, the thought process to say, ‘we’re going to take Australia on there. We know it’s going to be hard, but we think it’s going to be hard for both sides only, and then it’ll be a one-innings game’,” Cook said on TNT Sports.

He added, “I think most captains would have bowled first, certainly would have done and probably got the end of a bad result, like normally in Australia. But India took it on brilliantly. It was just an all-round fantastic performance.

“You think… bowled out for 150, you think we’re struggling here, but to bounce back when you’ve got Boomer (Jasprit Bumrah) up with the new ball on those kinds of wickets, he’s always going to be outstanding and backed up by team.”