Tim Paine, a former captain of Australia, certainly enjoys seeing his bitter foe England lose any series, but he also has first-hand experience of losing to an Indian “B” squad in Test cricket. Paine was captain of Australia in the 2020–21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, when India won a historic away series 2-1. Nobody knows what it’s like to lose to a subpar Indian team better than Paine.
India crushed Australia
Ajinkya Rahane led a group of determined young players to give India a memorable series victory despite the absence of then captain Virat Kohli, who left for home after the first Test; Rohit Sharma, who missed the first two matches due to injury; pacers Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav; and Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah, who were unable to play in the final Test in Gabba.
Paine takes a dig at England
“I know what it’s like to be beaten by an Indian B team. Unfortunately, it happened to us on our home soil.”
“But yes, some huge names out for India, which should have certainly helped the English,” she said, speaking to another former Australia captain, Brad Haddin, on the ‘Around the Wicket’ podcast. “I thoroughly enjoy watching England play the game; I love the way they are going about it. I love watching them lose. Don’t get me wrong, but they are entertaining and exciting,” Paine added.
India was playing without star players
India, without key players like Shami, Kohli, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant, defeated England 4-1 in the series after winning the Dharamshala Test on Saturday by an innings and 64 runs. Under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, this is England’s first series defeat.
Haddin agrees with Paine
Haddin also acknowledged that an Indian ‘B’ team was crushing England in the current series. “But they have been playing against the Indian B team because there has been no Kohli, no Shami, Bumrah got rested last Test, KL Rahul is out, and Rishabh Pant is still making his way back from that accident,” stated Haddin.
Australians are amazed at the “depth” of Indian
But the former stumper for Australia praised India’s depth at the bench and expressed gratitude to the younger players, who have been outstanding In the current series. “They are not their strongest team, but it just goes to show that the depth in Indian cricket is huge because there are some big names coming into this next era of Indian cricket. “(Yashasvi) Jaiswal is leading the charge; young (Dhruv) Jurel was magnificent in the last Test as well. So India is looking very strong,” Haddin said.
By Kevin Varchand