India tour of Australia: ‘He’s just another player to me,’ says Australia Test skipper Tim Paine

India tour of Australia: ‘He’s just another player to me,’ says Australia Test skipper Tim Paine
virat kohli and tim paine
Virat Kohli and Tim Paine

It’s almost impossible to imagine India’s tour of Australia without mind games being played on the field. Moreover, when it comes to Indian skipper Virat Kohli against the Aussies, the intensity is always high. This was seen last time when India visited Down Under back in 2018, Kohli led his team to their first away Test series win against Australia.

Unfortunately, the fans would not get much to see of Virat Kohli as he’ll return home after the first five-day game. Before the start of the series, Australia Test skipper Tim Paine said that Kohli is just like any other player for him. However, he admitted that they love watching him bat as cricket fans.

“I get asked a lot of questions about Virat Kohli, he’s just another player to me. It doesn’t really bother me. There’s not really a relationship there with him to be fair. I see him at the toss and play against him, and that’s about it,” Tim Paine told ABC Sport.

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“With Virat, it is a funny one, we love to hate him but we also love to watch him bat as cricket fans. He certainly is polarising in that type of scenario. We love watching him bat, but we don’t like seeing him score too many runs,” he added.

‘Australia vs India is a heated battle’

India will face Australia in first Test at Adelaide

The 35-year old also said that the competition is always intense when it comes to Australia against India. 

“Australia and India, it’s a heated competition and he’s obviously a competitive person and so am I. So, this year there were a few occasions when we had words but that wasn’t because he was the captain and I was the captain, it could have been anyone,” said the Australian Test skipper.

“There is always a bit more tension when a player is as good as he is. It’s the same when you play against England, be it Joe Root or a Ben Stokes. It’s often the best player that your team goes up a little bit, the intensity goes up when the best players in the world come out to the crease,” he signed off.

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