Australia captain Tim Paine gave credit to India for batting well in the first innings of the third Test.
He said here on Sunday, “India batted superbly in the first innings, from that moment we were behind the game. We knew the wicket was going to deteriorate and it was going to be hard work against their disciplined attack.”
Paine said, “We'd like to get to Sydney, win the toss and have the same thing — reversed.”
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‘Inexperience’
On Australia’s repeated batting failures, he said, “It’s inexperience. It’s pressure. It’s India’s bowling attack being probably as good as probably most of these guys have ever faced.”
He added, “It's pretty clear, if you take two or three of the best players out of anyone's line-up in the world, you're going to struggle a little bit at times and have inconsistent performances. That's what we are seeing.”
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Return of the prodigals
On Steve Smith and David Warner’s return to the Australian team as soon as their bans are over, Paine said, “I think that's pretty clear. If you took Pujara and Virat out of India's side, I think you'd have the same conversation. Are they going to add to our team? I think they will. At the moment it's challenging and everyone's frustrated.”
About Australia’s squad for Sydney, Paine said, “Marnus Labuschagne [a batsman who can send down a bit of leg-spin] has been added to the team. He'll come with us to Sydney and we will have a look at the conditions. We hear it will spin quite a bit, so once we see that for ourselves we can try to think about the best combination to win that Test.”
Switching formats
Paine said these were times when players had to switch quickly between formats and added the Aussies were not doing a great job of batting under pressure irrespective of the format.
The Australia captain said, “We will go to Sydney to level the series. That’s our goal.”