The Borders Trophy 2020/21 was a historic series win for India. They proved all their critics wrong and went on to win the series against Australia in Australia despite them being without their key players. The fact that they beat a full strength Aussie squad with their net bowlers is one of the major reasons why this series will be remembered by Indian fans for a really long time. However, from an Australia point of view, the Border-Gavasker Trophy 2020/2021 is probably one of the worst series defeats in their history. Aussie captain Tim Paine was severely criticized for this loss as he dropped a lot of chances behind the gloves. His tactics as a skipper were questionable as well. Despite all this, Tim Paine has recently made a statement saying that he got distracted because of various issues happened of the field.

 

He claimed that his team got distracted by India’s ‘sideshows’ during the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The 36-year-old pointed out the Gabba controversy when India, initially, expressed reluctance to play at the venue, citing hard quarantine rules. India initially didn’t want to play at the “Gabba” due to the difficulty in isolating themselves for some time again. “Part of the challenge of playing against India is they’re very good at niggling you and trying to distract you with stuff that doesn’t really matter and there were times in that series where we fell for that. The classic example was when they said they weren’t going to the Gabba so we didn’t know where we were going. They’re very good at creating these sideshows and we took our eye off the ball.” said Tim Paine. A Fox Cricket report quoted this statement by Tim Paine. Australia began the four-match Test against India on a high, as they went on to beat the Asian giants and bundled them for 36 in their second innings. However, India fought back incredibly well to register their second successive Test series win in Australia.

 

Barring Labuschagne, Smith, Hazlewood and Cummins, none of the Issue players were consistent. Infact, most of the Australian supporters have been demanding a change in captaincy. Paine hasn’t really been the best captain as his resume looks ordinary to say the least. The only bright spot in his captaincy career was when he managed to retain the Ashes in England. Steve Smith has been a brilliant captain for Australia and it wouldn’t be shocking to see him being named as the captain again. Paine’s appointment to the role came under unexpected circumstances, following Steve Smith’s involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in the 2018 Cape Town Test. Paine even backed Steve Smith to lead Australia again. “I think so. Obviously I don’t make that decision but the time I played with Steve as captain he was excellent,” Paine said in comments published by News Corp media on Thursday. “Certainly tactically he is as good as you get. “Then obviously South Africa events happened and he’s not doing it anymore. But, yeah, I would support him getting that job again.”

By Arvind Krishnan

Cricket writer, statistician and analyst. An unorthodox media student, marketing runs in his blood. Sports Marketer and analyst.