Australia skipper Tim Paine has apologised to the Indian team for crossing the line while having banter on the field and admitted that the pressure of purchasing a wicket got to him on the final day of the Sydney Test. However, Paine said that the night after the game when he got the time to reflect on the conduct of himself and his teammates, he realised that things really got over the line and that it shed a poor light on his leadership in wake of a tough Test match that was being played by two sides.
"International cricket at the moment with the hub life and in the bubble, you have a fair bit of time to yourself and last night for me was one of those moments to sit back and reflect on the Test match. I think it was important to address some things from yesterday. I want to apologise for the way I went about things yesterday. I'm someone who prides themselves on the way I lead this team and yesterday was a poor reflection of that,” Paine said in a virtual press conference he apparently called to address these issues of the fifth day of Sydney Test.
"My leadership wasn't good enough, I let the pressure of the game get to me, it affected my mood and then from there, affected my performance. Yesterday, when I came off the ground, my reflection was purely on my wicketkeeping. Sitting back last night and reflecting on the whole game, I think I said to our players yesterday I've had a really poor game as a leader, not so much as a captain but certainly as a leader."
The Australian bowling team was put under enormous pressure from the defiant duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari and it looked like the hosts were feeling rattled by the vigilance of the duo in the middle. They tried to break their concentration with a bit of banter but things looked like quickly slipping out of hands as Paine and Ashwin started responding to each other’s jibe in a far serious tone.
Australian captain Tim Paine was heard saying that the home side was itching to go to the Gabba which has a reputation of offering more bounce and pace to pacers than other pitches that have been used in the series so far to which Ashwin did not hold back and invited Paine for the series in India and warned that his team will make sure it would turn out to be the last series for the Australian skipper.
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