Australia captain Tim Paine is all charged up for another competitive Test series against India. Paine will be aiming for redemption against team India who ended up winning the Test series in Australia by 2-1. Ahead of the opening Test match, Paine praised the batting line-up of India for the way they scored consistently in the last series.

The Australian captain also pointed out that his side is not entirely focused on just a few individuals in the Indian side. The focus of the opposition when they play Test cricket against India is prominently on their two-star batsmen Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara.

Ajinkya Rahane is a huge focus for us – Tim Paine

However, the Aussie skipper pointed out that his side is focusing on the glue of Indian batting who is Ajinkya Rahane. The Indian vice-captain stayed under the radar during the last series and continued scoring valuable runs. Tim Paine acknowledged Kohli and Pujara but also gave a special mention of Rahane and pointed out that he is a huge focus for Australia.

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“When Kohli leaves, we know the talent they have in their side. Pujara obviously troubled us a lot last time around so he is a big key for us, but we know the talent they have, we saw Rishabh Pant hitting a very quick hundred in the second practice game so they have got guys who can take away the Test match pretty quickly. Clearly, Rahane held the team together last time, he was the glue last time around so he is a huge focus for us”, Tim Paine said in response to a query from ANI during a virtual press conference.

Meanwhile, there’s no denying that Rahane is a quality batsman but lately he has searched for runs in Test cricket. After Kohli leaves after the first Test, Rahane will also take the reins of captaincy.

In absence of Kohli, Rahane will have to be at his absolute best if team India wishes to win another Test series in Australia. So far in his career, Rahane has accumulated 4203 runs at an average of 42.3 including 11 centuries.

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