Stuart MacGill says individuals must be on top of their own games rather than rely on teammates to help them prepare for the cauldron of Test cricket.

MacGill on Wednesday joined the likes of former captain Allan Border in criticising coach Mickey Arthur’s “stupid” idea to ask the Australian team to complete a homework assignment after going 2-0 down in the four-Test series in India.

While he acknowledged the homework should have been done once assigned, MacGill said dropping four players – including vice-captain Shane Watson – for failing to do so “sends the wrong message”.

Always his own man, MacGill was the only player to make himself unavailable for Australia’s 2004 tour of Zimbabwe on moral grounds and insists there is very much an “I” in team when it comes to the sport of cricket.

“One thing that people need to remember – and this is an age-old saying since cricket began – is that cricket is a team sport played by individuals,” MacGill told AAP.

“Embracing that individuality is what makes a great team.

“Being an individual within a cricket team doesn’t mean that you’re selfish. It doesn’t mean that you don’t care about anybody else in the side.

“It’s not about that. It’s about looking after your own requirements, making sure that you’re at the very, very top of your game.

“And then when you’ve done that and you’ve ticked off all of the boxes, then it frees you up to worry about what’s going on either side of you.

“People who are worrying about everything going on around them end up two-nil down in a series.

“You’ve got to concentrate on your own game first and foremost and that’s what Michael Clarke needs from his players now.”

MacGill noted how the team he played with in the late 1990s and early 2000s was No.1 in the world despite featuring players of vastly different personalities.

“Steve Waugh, even Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, went about preparing in completely different ways,” said MacGill, host of the Cricket Club on Google Plus.

“The team aspect comes from a mutual respect and it comes from trusting the guy sitting next to you.

“When I’m playing with Andrew Symonds or Justin Langer – two completely different characters – I trusted that they wanted to win as much as I did.”

MacGill said if homework wasn’t part of the pre-tour plan before being introduced after losing the first two Tests, “they’re kidding themselves”.

“I personally think what they were asked to do was stupid,” he said.