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IT'S seven years since Greg Chappell coached India but it's only now we can fully see what he was on about.
Chappell left India an exasperated and exhausted man after the 2007 World Cup.
He boldly tried to shake up the conservative Indian cricket setup but the setup won.
It was always going to because it takes more than one man to shift an oak tree.
Chappell admits he tried to do too much too soon but has few regrets because he believed in what he was doing.
This tour may prove that some of his theories were well-founded.
Chappell sensed that India's superstar cricket team had grown very comfortable with their own existence.
They were earning money by the truckload but they were drifting.
Apart from men like Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble there was no desperate edge seeking improvement.
Indian player Sourav Ganguly had a frosty relationship with his former national coach Greg Chappell. Source: AP
Fans backed Ganguly, burning an effigies of Chappell during his reign. Source: AP
For India's batting superstars, life was about preserving their patch rather than moving forward.
India, for all their talent, were a modest fielding side, poor between the wickets, had negative tactics, and rarely won away from home.
Chappell's theory was that the side needed an injection of cheeky, fresh, young, fit, ambitious talent who would work hard on fielding, hustle between wickets, play a more team-orientated game.
Only then could they catch up with the rest of the world.
Well, here they are, seven years later, a long way from the finished product, but at least heading in the right direction.
India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was aggressive in the field. Source: AFP
To see India keeping aggressive field placings yesterday when David Warner was attacking and showing zest and purpose in everything they did was a portent of better days ahead.
There is still the occasional Three Stooges moment such as Ajin Rahane's embarrassing dropped catch of Shaun Marsh yesterday when Rahane looked like a statue waiting for a pigeon as he sat under the ball and dropped the undroppable catch.
But if India keep training hard, much like Bob Simpson's hardworking Australian teams of the 1980s, things will change eventually.
They have changed significantly already.
When Chappell's predecessor John Wright took over as Indian coach one of the first things he did was ban lounge chairs from Indian training.
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That's right. Lounge chairs.
Wright still cringes at the memory of standing near one of his batsman on an exercise bike in a gym when a group of Australian players including Matthew Hayden walked in.
The batsman was wearing sandals, sitting upright on the bike and not even sweating and Wright admitted "I could just tell the Australians were thinking, 'well done Wrighty, you have really got this mob fizzing.''
India have provided robust opposition for two Tests in a row, leaving Australian cricket in a state of flux.
Australia has bowled out India for 408 at lunch on day two of the second cricket Test in Brisbane.
Is Mitchell Starc a Test bowler? Will Chris Rogers get to England next year? Is Shaun Marsh the answer in the middle order? Is Peter Siddle finished?
All of these highly relevant questions have been asked and we have no conclusive answers.
A fighting half century from Rogers yesterday was a tiny step towards England for he will not be marked by totally conventional standards.
Statistics matter but a feisty 50 or two in the closing Tests are likely to be all he needs to get to the West Indies then England where he has been a run-scoring marvel in county cricket.
But there are no guarantees and many more questions to come.
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