I come to Kolkata with mixed memories of my past games at Eden Gardens, the venue I consider to be the Lord's of the subcontinent. The foremost among these recollections is our World Cup victory in 1987. Almost 14 years have gone by since then, but I will never forget how 95,000 people cheered us on in the final against England. Since England had beaten India and we had defeated Pakistan in our respective semifinal matches, the crowd was firmly behind us. The Australian team had been experiencing a lean time in the mid-eighties and had come to the tournament as underdogs. The victory instilled enormous confidence and self-belief in the side and it was a significant moment for Australian cricket.

In 1998 we were completely outplayed in a little under four days. I was disappointed not to make a 100, but I wasn't helped by the fact that I had strained my groin mid-innings. As it turned out, the four-day finish was to prove providential since I got an opportunity to go out and meet the children at Udayan on what would have been the fifth day of the Test. Today, as I look back at that game, I think some positives did emerge from that visit to Calcutta.

There are a few changes in our team then and the team we have now. The greatest change is that of attitude. This time round, we have decided to enjoy our trip to India by adopting a broad-minded approach. We have tried to move out of our hotel rooms and embrace the culture and meet the people at various venues. The other change is that our team has more firepower, with Glenn McGrath in the side and Shane Warne back at his best. In 1998, we were hampered by injuries and as a result Michael Kasprowicz was overbowled.

While we are one up in the series, we are not taking the Indians lightly. The surface is flat and seems ideally suited to their kind of batting. My feeling is that the game will go into the fifth day, and while the pitch will progressively take spin, it will be a good batting wicket.

Many questions have been raised about Michael Slater's form. I think people tend to worry too much if a player doesn't fire once or twice. He just had one bad outing in the first innings at Mumbai and I have full faith in his ability to get a big score sooner than later. I firmly believe that once you choose a player, you should believe he is the best until someone better comes along. Some teams complicate things for themselves by constantly chopping and changing. I don't think there is any point in changing a side unless you are sure that you are improving the side. I think one of the reasons for Australia's successes is the amount of faith we repose in our players. If a player constantly feels that he could well be playing his last game, there is no way he can relax and play at his best.

The spectre of crowd trouble at Eden Gardens does not worry me at all. I have had great times with this crowd back in 1987 and again in 1998. I'm sure everybody is keen to enjoy good Test match cricket. Sure, we know the crowd will support the home side and that things could get noisy. But it will be up to us to relax and shut out the noise in order to perform.

A word about my trip to Udayan on Friday. It was great to get back and meet the children after almost a year. The development of the kids has been remarkable. They were growing up in leper colonies with no direction and poor living standards. Today, they are well-behaved and are developing their talents in fields like music. They played the violin remarkably well, considering they had picked it up only a few months ago. Mark, Justin and Brad accompanied me to Udayan, and it was a great experience for them too. Mark is sponsoring a girl and Justin, who loves kids, enjoyed himself with the children there. It was also a great experience for a young guy like Brad to come and see a place like Udayan. We have a few plans for the children, including a fundraiser in England later this year, which will help in the development of more underprivileged children in the city.

© Gameplan