Former Australia captain Tim Paine shared in a podcast with The Grade Cricketer that he doesn’t regret sledging Ravichandran Ashwin during the SCG Test match, even though he was dealing with a back spasm at the time.
He admitted that he aimed to disturb Ashwin, who had been getting him out frequently. This well-known exchange happened during the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in 2020-2021, when India was chasing a tough target of 407 runs in their final innings. While Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari worked hard to save the match with a solid partnership, Paine tried to disrupt Ashwin’s focus with his sledging.
“No, I don’t because to this day Ashwin didn’t play in that (Brisbane) Test match. I wasn’t talking to the Indians, I was talking to him. I said we cannot wait to get you to the Gabba. “…because he was annoying us, fair to say. He is a fantastic cricketer. He was getting me out all the time and that was annoying me as well,” Paine said in a podcast of The Grade Cricketer.
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Paine said the sledging was directed at Ravichandran Ashwin.
“But no, that was purely directed straight at him and he pulled out of that Test match because of back spasm. Did I had a great game in that match? No, but I fronted up. Actually day one of the Test match he (Ashwin) was jogging laps. Those back spasms couldn’t have been that bad,” he added.
India’s Historic Victory at the Gabba
The match at the Gabba was one of the greatest comebacks in cricket history. India played without star players like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, R. Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja, fielding a team with many new players. Even with these challenges, India pulled off an amazing chase on the final day of the Brisbane Test, with Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Rishabh Pant playing key roles.
India managed to chase down 328 runs, handing Australia their first loss at the Gabba in 32 years and winning the series 2-1.
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