Just about few days before India and Australia kickstart things in Australia for the 2-month long tour, Australian Test skipper Tim Paine has come out saying how the loss against India back in 2018 still annoys him. Last time around when India toured Australia, the home side suffered a pounding defeat in the test series as the Virat Kohli led side were all over the slightly inexperienced Australian side in the absence of David Warner and Steve Smith.
This year Australia will be looking to get their revenge on their Indian side as they’re all set to face them in three ODIs, Three T20s and four Test matches out of which Virat Kohli will only be available for the limited-overs leg followed by the first test after which he’ll be flying back home as he’s expecting his first child with wife Anushka Sharma.
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‘It Still Annoys Me That We Lost That Test Series’ – Tim Paine
Tim Paine said that when he thinks of that particular series it actually annoys him because as a player you don’t like losing any test match or test series. Whether Warner and Smith were missing is out of the equation for him since as a captain he had to take that series defeat from India for the very first time on his chin.
“Certainly for me sitting back it still annoys me that we lost that Test series. Whether we had Steve or David or not you don’t want to be losing any Test matches or Test series you’re involved in, so that still grinds me a little bit,” Tim Paine said.
Paine further added how the Australian side has drastically evolved over the period of the last 18 months as every player has improved as a player. As we have seen players like Pat Cummins, Marnus Labuschagne have looked in complete different over the course of that period.
“I think we’re 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 aside, but I think every other cricketer in that team has improved in the last 18 months as well and we’ve been playing some really good cricket, whereas back then I think we were finding our way through a really challenging or different type of set up,” said Tim Paine.
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