Australian Test skipper Tim Paine has clarified his comments over Team India players. His comments broke the internet after he said that the Indian players were good at playing sideshows and distracting them in the process. Several Australian media outlets quoted his comments while trying to explain the reason behind his comments as well.

Tim Paine received a lot of hate on social media from Indian fans over his comments and has finally come out with a clarification.

“Part of the challenge of playing against India is they’re very good at niggling you and trying to distract you with stuff that doesn’t really matter and there were times in that series where we fell for that. The classic example was when they said they weren’t going to the Gabba so we didn’t know where we were going. They’re very good at creating these sideshows and we took our eye off the ball” Paine had said.

A day after his comments Tim Paine spoke to former Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist over a podcast. Paine clarified that even though he does stick to what he said, the skipper also credited India for playing better than them while adding that Virat Kohli’s team deserved to win.

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Tim Paine Clarifies His Comments

“I was asked a number of things, and one of those was talking about the challenges of playing against India. One of them was the distraction they can create. There was a lot of talk that they weren’t going to Brisbane. They’re always changing gloves and bringing out physios and all that can get on your nerves. Just that was one of the things that probably distracted me and took my eye of the ball at times,” Paine told Gilchrist.

Paine was taken down on Twitter by the Indian fans. Several cricket experts also responded to his comments saying that as a captain the words he said were not acceptable and against the spirit of the game.

Meanwhile, with the Ashes coming up Tim Paine’s captaincy in Test matches is in question and he has thrown his weight behind Steve Smith’s reappointment as the long-format skipper again.

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