Bonds established during the Indian Premier League will be tested in 36C heat on Thursday, when Australia's first Test against India starts in Pune.
Battles for the Border-Gavaskar trophy are often tense affairs; some five players were slapped with misconduct fines during the most recent series in 2014-15.
In that regard, it wouldn't be a surprise if there are any spats in the contest that starts at 3pm AEDT on Thursday.
However, the lead up to the much-anticipated series has been devoid of barbs or bombshells.
The closest Australia came to stirring the pot was Steve Smith last week publicly giving teammates a licence to "get into a battle verbally" during the four-Test series if it suited them to do so.
India batsman Ajinkya Rahane's suggestion "Australian players play mind games" and that India are out "to dominate them in every aspect" is as hostile as the hosts have been during the past week.
Those comments came before India skipper Virat Kohli suggested every cricketer in the world should admire Mitchell Starc - and after countless Australians detailed their respect for Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin.
The IPL may well have a lot to do with it.
Smith, Ashwin, Rahane, Mitch Marsh, Peter Handscomb and Usman Khawaja all played with Pune last year.
The top-ranked Test bowler in the world Ashwin refused to bowl offspin to Smith in the nets, instead sending down legbreaks.
But Handscomb and Rahane talked tactics after striking up a bond during the Twenty20 competition.
"I got along well with him and had a really good chat about batting in India and how he went about playing spin," Handscomb said.
"I haven't seen him yet (since landing in Pune for the first Test).
"He's a good man ... I dare say I'll catch up with him at some stage.
"It was good to ... get around a few of the Indian lads and just discuss how they play cricket in India because it's so different to anywhere else in the world."
Kohli was effusive in his praise for Starc, but also spoke at length about how close he is to many Australian players.
"I'm really good friends with all these guys off the field, I know them really well," Kohli said.
"We get along really well and on the field we're professional enough to understand it's going to be a competition."
Kolhi has a history of run-ins with Australians, having rowed with Smith in a T20 and Test at Adelaide Oval.
Share
