New Delhi: The criticism that Australia received after going down in the first Test to India at Perth was a bit severe in the eyes of former skipper Tim Paine.
Australia lost the opening Test of the five-game Border Gavaskar series by 295 runs, India’s biggest win by margin of runs in Australia. It lead to a torrent of criticism as they trailed 0-1 in the high-octane series.
Since then the hosts have recovered to win the second Test at Adelaide, claiming the day-night Test by 1O wickets to level up the series. With three matches left, the third game begins in Brisbane on December 14.
“A bit of relief I would have thought, no doubt. The pressure that was on them and the response that people were wanting to see,” Paine told SEN.
“This is a harshly treated team at times, but they are one of the great teams. They have won everything but the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and they know that, they’ve spoken about that, this is the one they want to tick off.”
Great response under pressure
After the Perth defeat, many questioned the decision of converting Nathan McSweeney into an opener and the persistence with No.3 batter Marnus Labuschagne, who had been on a lean patch for a while.
But Labuschagne scored a matured fifty while McSweeney, on his debut series, got 39 in the second innings at Adelaide. Pat Cummins (2/41 and 5/57), Mitchell Starc (6/48 and 2/60) and Travis Head (140) all contributed handsomely to their dominant win in the pink ball Test.
“It does not get any better than that…it doesn’t get any harder. For Marnus and Nathan McSweeney at different points of their career to be able to nail down get through…that just put Australia so far out in front of that Test match,” Paine said.
“I thought both of those guys for different reasons were huge. That was just as good as professional sports get when you’ve got players that are so good fighting so desperately.”
The former keeper-batter also noted that India’s inexperience of playing in pink ball matches was evident as Australia recorded their eighth consecutive day-night Test match win.
“I thought the way they responded under immense pressure was huge, albeit in a pink ball Test where we have a great record and India don’t get to see it that much,” he said.
Tim Paine said it was a relief for him to see Australia win the second Test against India at Adelaide after going down in the series opener at Perth Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
