You'll have to forgive me - I get a bit excited when the Indians visit.

In my experience people either embrace Indian cricket for its myriad absurdities or they find it mystifying. There's no middle ground.

Five years ago Greg Chappell tried to stir the established order; and failed. Chappell's brief and ill-fated time as coach of the Indian national team is testament to the anomalous relationship between Australia and India.

Something strange often happens when these two countries come together on a cricket field. They tend to bring both the best and worst out of each other, which, from a spectator's perspective, makes for riveting viewing.

One test that exemplifies the beauty of Indian cricket occurred in Calcutta in 2001. Having batted first, Australia enjoyed a first innings lead of 274 runs. Steve Waugh enforced the follow on, as had been his tendency during his successful reign as Australian captain.

India then amassed 7/657 in 178 overs. V.V.S Laxman's majestic wrists helped him compile 281. Rahul Dravid - ‘The Wall' - ground out 180. They put on 376 runs for the fifth wicket; a partnership that swung the contest in India's favour. India then dismissed Australia for 212 to claim an historically unlikely victory.

It was a momentous result. It brought Australia's run of 16 straight test victories to an end. At the time India was only the third side in the history of test cricket to win after being instructed to bat again. The result irrevocably changed Australia's philosophy on enforcing the follow-on.

Harbhajan Singh took 13 wickets in that famous test. He has proved to be a wonderful antagonist against the Australians in the past decade. I'm quite fond of him. He plays the game fiercely. He visibly enjoys getting under the skin of his opponents, yet his own performances rarely seem to be affected by his verbal output.

He removed Ricky Ponting for a duck in that Calcutta Test and has plagued the former Australian captain ever since. Who could forget his running, somersaulting celebration at the SCG in 2008? (A fortnight later Ponting scored the most vigilant century of his career at the Adelaide Oval.  At the ground, I knew there wasn't a hope in hell Ponting was going to allow the ‘Turbanator' to practice his acrobatics).

Somersaults and all, Harbhajan played a central role in that spiteful Test when he was reputed to have called Andrew Symonds a monkey. It was a bizarre contest that had more ‘ins' and ‘outs' than a Dashiell Hammett novel:

Roy scored an unbeaten 162, but was aided by one of the most blatant umpiring blunders of the modern era (why on earth does the BCCI continue to oppose the use of video technology?).

Michael Clarke refused to walk after middling an Anil Kumble delivery to first slip.

Rahul Dravid received a howler in the second innings after batting patiently in the hope of salvaging a draw for his team.

Ricky Ponting was heavily criticised for claiming a catch that appeared to graze the turf when he landed.

In spite of Harbhajan's histrionics, the Australians were accused of celebrating too animatedly after clinching their 16th consecutive test victory, with respected Indian captain, Anil Kumble, accusing Australia of failing to participate in the spirit of the game.

The BCCI demanded umpire Steve Bucknor's sacking for the third test in Perth and then threatened to fly home.

The late Peter Roebuck wrote an extraordinary column in the wake of the match, demanding the resignation of Australia's captain, Ricky Ponting.

It will be interesting to see if any of the lingering tensions from the SCG thriller rise to the surface this summer.

Neither Symonds nor Harbhajan, the major protagonists from that event, will be around to renew hostilities. Symonds' career ended some time ago while Harbhajan's international form is below that of competing tweakers, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha, who both performed commendably in the recent three-test series against the West Indies.

Harbhajan was a member of an Indian squad that performed deplorably in England earlier this year, suffering a four-nil series defeat. They never seemed to recover from Zaheer Khan's hamstring injury in the opening test at Lords. It also appeared to get a little hot in the kitchen for some of their more seasoned campaigners. Rest assured, there won't be a repeat in Australia.

Currently, India possesses a superb balance of talented, eminently watchable cricketers.

V.V.S Laxman seems to delight in tormenting Australia. He scored another delightful ton (148) in Adelaide in 2003 to deliver a come-from-behind victory over the Australians. There's no reason to believe he won't enjoy one final ‘Indian summer' in 2011/12.

One has to admire Rahul Dravid. At 38 he continues to prosper. He was the one player who could hold his head up high in England. He played the swinging ball much later than his teammates, which aided his balance at the crease and minimised his chances of edging the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan.

Those, like me, who like watching brick walls - Jonathan Trott, Jacques Kallis, Alastair Cook - aren't very productive when Dravid is in town. He's a wonderful exponent of what I like to call ‘responsible cricket'. Australia's top order could learn a lot from observing the price Dravid puts on his wicket.

Then there's Zaheer Khan; the best swing bowler in the world. If he's fit and finds his rhythm it will be frightening to see what he does to Australia's batsmen. Great fast bowlers end careers. I suspect Matthew Elliott still wakes up in a cold sweat lamenting Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

Mahendra Signh Dhoni's reputation has grown immensely since he last visited Australia. He is a calm, patient captain who leads from the front. His innings in the World Cup Final against Sri Lanka was the most composed one-day innings I have ever witnessed.

Not too much needs to be said about Sachin Tendulkar. I first had the privilege of watching him in the summer of 1991/92 when Brian Lara and Shane Warne also emerged on the international scene. Since then he has matured into the second greatest batsman the game has ever seen.

Tendulkar remains stranded (if such a phrase is apropriate) on 99 international centuries. While the statistic is rather meaningless in a sense, it would be nice to see him score his hundredth ton in Australia. Wouldn't it be great if it was in front of a packed house on Boxing Day?

Finally, there's Virenda Sehwag, who recently scored 219 against the West Indies in a one-day international. He's always fun to watch. He's spent some time in the wilderness, lost some hair and his footwork is truly deplorable, but what does it matter? He plays the game on his terms. He's just happy to ride the rainbow serpent, which isn't a bad analogy for Indian cricket, come to think of it.