Australia captain Tim Paine yesterday said he was proud of the way his team not only fought hard against India, but played in the right spirit as they put on a friendlier face after the ball-tampering scandal.
The opening Test in Adelaide was the first at home for Australia since the cheating row blew up in South Africa in March, leading to bans for then-skipper Steve Smith and his deputy, David Warner.
A scathing review into the scandal criticized Australia’s cricketers for “playing the mongrel” against opponents and in response the team produced a players’ pact vowing to tone down their infamous abrasive attitude.
Both teams shook hands before and after the match as a mark of respect, and Paine said his team showed you did not have to “carry on like a pork chop” to be competitive in a match that went to the wire.
India eventually won by 31 runs on the fifth day to take momentum into the next Test in Perth starting on Friday.
“We played in good spirits. I don’t know about the Indians, we didn’t pay attention to them and we won’t be for the whole series,” Paine said. “We can only concentrate on the brand and the style of cricket that we want to play. From a cricket point of view, we have some areas to tighten up and I thought today was a nice snapshot of how we want to go about it. We fought really hard and never gave up, and you don’t have to talk rubbish and carry on a like a pork chop to prove that.”
Australia came face-to-face in Adelaide with famously combative India skipper Virat Kohli, who thrives on the verbal banter and has never been shy of riling the opposition, but while he celebrated wickets enthusiastically, there were few, if any, niggles between the teams during the highly competitive game.
Paine pointed to the experienced foursome of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon as showing the type of never-say-die, but fair, commitment he wants in the team.
They all bowled consistently and for long periods, and added valuable runs in the improbable chase of a winning target of 323, eventually going down by 31 runs.
“Our whole bowling attack, you see those four together and you can see how much it means to them playing for Australia, whether they’ve got the bat, ball or in the field,” he said. “You can’t question their commitment. They have a red-hot crack every single ball. That’s what we’re building to, that’s the style of cricket we want to play.”
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