IND vs AUS | Still annoys me that we lost Test series to India, professes Tim Paine
Paine playing a cut shot against India at MCG
|getty
Australian Test skipper Tim Paine admitted that the feeling of losing Test series to India in 2018/19 still annoys him a lot, two years on. He added that irrespective of Warner and Smith's absence, it still grinds him to have lost the Border-Gavaskar series 2-1 at home to Kohli's India.Â
When India scripted their first-ever Test series win in Australia in 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar trophy, it was also the first time when an Asian team had won a Test series Down Under. While it was historic for Indian skipper Virat Kohli, so was the case with Tim Paine though a rather forgettable history of becoming the first Aussie skipper to concede a Test series at home against India. The two nations will again clash in the Border-Gavaskar trophy from December 17 in what is going to be a day-night Test with pink ball under lights and both Warner and Smith back to action.
Aussie skipper Tim Paine professed that it still annoys him that his side lost to Virat Kohli's India even when he thinks that it came in absence of two of their biggest stars David Warner and Steven Smith.Â
âCertainly for me sitting back it still annoys me that we lost that Test series. Whether we had Steve or David or not you donât want to be losing any Test matches or Test series youâre involved in, so that still grinds me a little bit,â Paine told 2GBâs Wide World of Sports radio, reported Hindustan Times.
âWeâre a much better all round side. Not just adding Steve and David back into it, which is a hell of a lot of runs to add back into a side, but I think every other cricketer in that team has improved in the last 18 months as well and weâve been playing some really good cricket.
âWhereas back then I think we were finding our way through a really challenging or different type of set up.â
He, however, also added that the Test series loss last time will drive the team to perform better this time and even Warner and Smith are looking to perform well.
âI know that it drives a lot of the guys that were involved in that and I certainly know Steve and David are looking forward to coming back and showing just how good they are as well.â
âEveryone is absolutely pumped. The key is going to be last time we didnât get enough runs, this time, I think a few of our players have spoken about it. If we can make their fast bowlers bowl more overs than last time, I think our attack showed we can get the 20 wickets one way or another,â stated Paine.
India will kick start their Australia tour from November 27 with a three-match ODI series in Sydney. After that, the focus will shift to the three T20Is before India finally lock horns with Australia in pink and red-ball cricket.Â
