India vs Australia | Tim Paine rues missing out on important chances in Adelaide

Team India secured a historic 2-1 series win against Australia for the first time in its history after the final match of the series had to be called off due to bad weather in Sydney. Losing skipper, Tim Paine, painted a disappointing figure at the end of the series as he revealed his regrets in a post-match press conference. The Australian captain zeroed in on the missed opportunities in the series opener in Adelaide as one of the biggest regrets in the recent series loss to Virat Kohli & Co. 

"We honestly feel that we let that Test slip. We thought we had a number of opportunities to go well ahead of the game and when those key moments came up India outplayed us to be honest. Looking back now, if we'd won that Test, we win Perth, outplayed in Melbourne then a washout it could have been 2-1 the other way. It's funny, in a big series of four Tests you go back to a couple of key moments in the very first Test where we let ourselves down and you get to the end of the series and it's really hard to take," Paine said, reported Cricinfo.

The 34-year old Hobart native further added that India won the series because certain players stepped up in crucial moments of the whole tour, something that the Australians could not replicate.

"We are really disappointed. We know we had some guys missing but we honestly felt coming into the series that, in Australia in particular, that we could beat India but, throughout the series, more often than not, when those big moments came up, Virat has scored runs, Pujara has scored runs, Bumrah has bowled a great spell and we couldn't quite get through those moments.

"That's why India won this series, their best players stood up in the big moments - when they were falling behind in a game one of their good players dragged them back into the contest, or when they were in front of the game they put their foot on us and put us out of the game like they did in Sydney and Melbourne," Paine added.

Australia were definitely missing out on the services of the talented duo of Steven Smith and David Warner, but Paine singled out the likes of Marcus Harris and Travis Head for praise as they stepped up when given the chance in the national team. While it is certainly true that Harris has taken his chance, Head's series faded after half-centuries in Adelaide and Perth.

"From a batting point of view, you look at what Marcus Harris and Travis Head have been able to do they are two examples of guys who might not have played any Test cricket at this stage. They've got an opportunity through an unusual situation and I thought both those guys acquitted themselves really well. This India attack was seriously good, I don't think in Australia we've given them enough credit for how relentless they were, it was hard work batting against their attack for seasoned Test players. For Marcus and Travis to show they have got the game to make runs against the best attack in the world is a real positive.

"For some of the guys in their third-fourth Test maybe it's hard to look and say 'I haven't scored any hundreds' but Marcus and Travis showed, and Marnus in the first innings [in Sydney], that they can score runs in Test cricket. Sometimes it's difficult when it seems so far away, but we have three players there who are one innings away from really breaking through," Paine concluded.

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