Cricket: India told don't get mad, get even with fans

Ishant Sharma flipped a one-fingered salute to a sarcastic fan. Photo / AP

India captain M.S. Dhoni is urging his players to be smarter with how they react to fans, and use the abuse to spur them on in the third test at the WACA starting today.

Pace bowler Ishant Sharma flipped a one-fingered salute to a sarcastic fan at a go-kart session in Perth on Monday, while batsman Virat Kohli was fined half his match fee for making a similar gesture at the crowd during last week's second test in Sydney.

Kohli reportedly claimed he was reacting to abusive comments made about members of his family.

Dhoni says it's in his team's best interests today to avoid such gestures toward what he describes as the aggressive Aussie crowds.

"I was having a chat with a few players about this," said Dhoni yesterday. "If somebody starts something, more often than not it's the retaliator who gets stuck and gets punished.

"We need to get smart about what needs to be done. A few gestures, if we can avoid it it's in our best interests.

"You have to be smart as to what people are trying to do and how you are reacting to a particular situation.

"Everybody's fantastic early in the morning, but once after the tea session, after a couple of barrels of beer it gets a bit difficult.

"The Aussie fans - they are a bit aggressive and they're quite vocal about it.

"It's something you need to learn as to how you interact with the fans, how you can convert them... to push you to perform."

Dhoni deflected criticism from former India captain Sunil Gavaskar over the decision to have a go-kart session on Monday and not resume training until Tuesday after the Sydney test.

Dhoni also defended his captaincy after being accused of letting the game roll along without being proactive.

"It's easier to look from outside and comment on the particular decisions taken because more often than not you see the results and then comment on it," Dhoni said.

"It's about taking a good decision at the right time. That's what I try to do and at times I go wrong and at times I don't go wrong."

Dhoni looked unimpressed as he inspected the green-tinged WACA pitch after his news conference.

He's keeping the option of dropping spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as India look to bounce back after losing the opening two tests of the four-match series.

"We have to see how much grass there is and whether a spinner will get assistance or not," he said.

With his 100th international ton continuing to elude him, Indian great Sachin Tendulkar remains a relaxed figure, according to his teammate Rahul Dravid.

It's been 10 months since Tendulkar chalked up number 99 - against South Africa in a one-dayer in Nagpur.

And although he's come close this series, posting scores of 73, 32, 41 and 80, Dravid said the pressure wasn't getting to him.

"It's not spoken about much in the group at all - actually not at all," Dravid said. "He's been pretty relaxed about it... He's been batting beautifully over the last two or three games".

With plenty of pace and bounce predicted for the WACA wicket, Australia are still toying with the idea of unleashing four pacemen at the expense of spinner Nathan Lyon.

- AAP