India vs Australia: “Nice to know we’re still in the match,” says Australian captain Tim Paine

India vs Australia: “Nice to know we’re still in the match,” says Australian captain Tim Paine
Tim Paine

On a day that saw 15 wickets fall, India ended on top with a lead of 62 runs and 9 wickets in hand. Beginning the day on 233/6, India couldn’t add much to their overnight score as they lost their last 4 wickets for just 11 runs. Despite the bad start to the day, the bowlers ensured that India didn’t end the day in similar fashion. They took control of proceedings and chipped away with regular wickets.

If Jasprit Bumrah was excellent with his bowling early on to remove the openers, Ravichandran Ashwin dictated proceedings in the middle by picking up 4 wickets. Umesh Yadav helped in cleaning up the tail by picking up 3 wickets to shoot out Australia for just 191. Australian skipper Tim Paine was the only player who could get going on difficult conditions to bat on as he stroked his way to an assured 73 off just 99 balls. He remained unbeaten in the end but ran out of partners.

‘The pink ball is difficult to pick up’ – Tim Paine

Tim Paine who had a good outing with the bat spoke at a virtual press conference after the conclusion of the day’s play about his knock and said, “Happy to contribute with the tail to get close to India’s score. I was happy to stay there and do my job. It’s nice to know we’re still in the Test match. It was tough to score quickly because the Indian bowlers were exceptional. They have 3 high-quality fast bowlers who don’t miss their lines and lengths much. Any score will be a challenge to chase with India’s quality bowling.”

The wicket-keeper batsman then spoke about the difficulty of facing the pink ball and said, “The pink ball was another factor. It takes time to adapt to the pink ball. You have to adjust your eyes and it is difficult to pick it up. Most of this game has been unusual actually. The pink ball hasn’t swung much as we expected.”

On being asked about the move to open the bowling with Pat Cummins which paid dividends when the fast-bowler removed Prithvi Shaw, Paine said, “We decided to go with Cummins in the second innings because he can nip the ball and get it to seam both ways. Starc is very difficult to pick under lights as well. So Hazlewood was okay with opening the bowling with the two. We’ve got a great mix of fast-bowlers who can consistently hit the right lengths.”

Paine will hope the Australian bowlers can dismiss the Indians for a paltry score on Day 3 so that the target is not too steep for the hosts.

Also Read: India vs Australia: “Relentless” – Tom Moody credits Indian bowlers for ‘taking advantage of difficult surface’