Australia skipper Tim Paine was a disappointed man at the end of a gripping day of Test cricket which ended in a draw at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). He feels he let the bowlers down and said the result was a “tough one to swallow” for his team.
Disappointed with the glovework
The draw marked the end of a second consecutive match where India came back from a difficult position to deny victory for the hosts. Bowlers created enough chances but still couldn’t get on the other side of the result.
“I’m bitterly disappointed, I pride myself on my wicketkeeping. Haven’t had too many worse days than today, it’s a horrible feeling knowing our fast bowlers and our spinner bowled their hearts out and gave everything to the team. I certainly feel I let them down. I have to wear that, but I’ll get another crack at it next week so move on,” Paine said after the game.
At the start of Day 5, Australia had to pick 8 wickets to win the Test, but India somehow managed to keep the hosts at the bay. Paine blamed himself for putting down a few catches while standing behind the sticks.
“[We were] pretty confident (at the start of the day), with our attack. We certainly created enough chances to win the game,” Paine said in the post-match presentation to the host broadcaster. “It’s a tough one to swallow, particularly given my situation. I thought our bowlers were superb all day. Marnie [Labuschagne] and Nathan [Lyon] tried everything, the quicks were awesome. Just didn’t hold our catches, myself in particular, so we’re going to cop the blame for that and wear it and move on to Brisbane.”
Rishabh played an amazing innings
Pant who played a swashbuckling inning of 97 was dropped twice by the Australian wicketkeeper. Lyon was the unlucky bowler on both occasions but he bagged Pant’s wicket on the third occasion. The Australian captain was asked if Pant’s innings gave him the horror of Ben Stokes heroics at Headingley. But Paine never thought they’ll lose the game.
“I thought like the whole innings we were creating chances to get him (Pant), we just had to hold one. I thought Lyon was bowling really well. Rishabh played an amazing innings, he played some superb shots, we know he’s got that in him but we also know he gives you chances and we just had to hold onto one. Thought it was a great innings, we bowled pretty well to him, but at no stage did we have that feeling (of the Headingley Test), we thought we had plenty on the board. Either we’d win or it would be a draw.”
Set a poor example with the choice of words
The Tasmanian was fined 15 percent of his match fee for showing dissent at an umpire’s decision on day three of the third Test against India in Sydney. Paine admitted that he set a poor example with the use of his language after getting caught in a verbal exchange with R. Ashwin.
“We all know the stump mics are part of the broadcast. It’s great to bring the viewers that close. Unfortunately, I probably set a pretty poor example with my use of language. Certainly, I was disappointed with myself after I heard that. We know we have to be careful. I’ve had Paul Wilson umpire me for a long time, I certainly didn’t mean to be disrespectful to him, it was just heat of the moment.
“I need to be better than that. I know the stump mics are on and there’s a lot of kids watching and I need to set a better example. We try our best but we aren’t perfect. Occasionally if the worst thing we’ve done is let the odd f-bomb go then I think we are going okay,” said Paine after the end of the SCG Test.
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