Australian Test skipper Tim Paine has called for consistency in dishing out over-rate penalties after his side missed out on making the World Test Championship (WTC) Final. India and New Zealand went on to play the final, which was won emphatically by the latter.

During India’s famous win at ‘The Gabba’, Australia were a few overs short of the required target. Therefore, they were handed a four-point fine. As a result, they ended up damaging their points percentage which was previously established as the criteria to determine the finalists. They lost their spot on the table to New Zealand who went on to make the most of it.

When asked whether he mustered the interest to watch the final, Tim Paine said:

“I didn’t watch too much. I watched the last day. On the first day I turned it on as I was excited. Well, I thought I was excited but then it got dirty and I didn’t want to watch it so I flicked it off. Obviously it rained as well on the first day.”

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow” – Tim Paine

Australia ended the WTC cycle with 69.2 percent of points, while New Zealand ended with 70%. Speaking about the misfortune of missing out due to a small mistake, Tim Paine requested for consistency in the WTC.

“We’ve always got things in place to try and help out with that [over-rate] but it doesn’t always work. We were the team I think that bore the brunt of it. I think there’s been a lot of Test cricket in the last two years where teams haven’t bowled their overs,” he said.

Since there’s a lot at stake in the latest ICC event, Paine felt his team was hard-done-by the docking of points. He hoped there will be a lot more consistency from the next time around.

“I’m not sure how many teams lost points out of it. But I think there needs to be a little bit more consistency around it, given now that the prize is so big and a couple of overs can cost you four points. Look we were behind on our overs, and that’s what it is. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you’re the only team that’s been docked points. It happens during Test match after Test match after test match,” Paine reckoned.

---