Why India and Australia mean so much to each other

From Lawrence Booth and "the Spin", his weekly round-up of cricket for the Guardian:

Dennis Lillee is in little doubt. The India-Australia four-match Test series which begins at Bangalore tomorrow "amounts to a world championship contest". The hyperbole is entirely understandable. But it is just that: hyperbole. The reason India v Australia is so mouth-watering is not because India are the second-best side in the world (by any objective standards, let alone the ICC table, they are probably not). It is because of the mythology that has built up around the fixture.

The truth is that the sides have become obsessed with beating each other, and you can hardly blame them. Australia's traditional foe, England, have been cannon fodder for 15 years; India, on the other hand, almost went through the entire 1990s without playing their arch-enemies, Pakistan. Both sides have looked elsewhere for a
challenge - and they have ended up gazing squarely into each other's eyes. The upshot has been some of the most thrilling cricket in Test history, which is not necessarily the same as a world championship.

Australia haven't won in India since Bill Lawry led them to a 3-1 win in 1969-70, but it wasn't until Steve Waugh took over the captaincy that victory in India became Australia's holy grail. India became to Waugh what those four runs at The Oval in 1948 were to Bradman: just as the Don never did average 100, Waugh would never win a Test series in a country that beguiled him. And as Waugh took his place on the pantheon, so the elusive victory in India grew all the more tantalising.

From an Indian perspective, doing well against Australia has disguised a multitude of sins. They played quite superbly a year ago to come away from Australia with a 1-1 draw, and their victory at Kolkata after following on in 2000-01 will forever be the stuff of legend. But results elsewhere, usually away from home, have been patchy: for every historic win in Pakistan, there is a feeble surrender in New Zealand. And don't forget that their most recent home series ended in a 0-0 draw with those pesky New Zealanders.

This is not to wipe away the drool ahead of this week's Test series. It is merely to redirect it. Ever since Waugh called Sourav Ganguly a "prick", there has been a frisson between the sides that transcends anything in the game - and which is made all the more delectable because it has nothing to do with tradition (like the Ashes) or politics (like India v Pakistan). India-Australia pre-series kidology is now as riveting as the cricket itself.

But do not be fooled into thinking that these sides loathe each other. On the contrary, they need each other. Australia need to win in India to complete their jigsaw and prove to themselves that they don't have a hang-up about that part of the world. India need Australia for a feel-good factor of their own - because as long as they're giving the best side in the world a run for their money, the dodgy results
against New Zealand can be swept under the carpet.

Expect an epic. But please, don't call it a world championship.