Australia’s Test captain Tim Paine has recently said that his side “took their eye off the ball” against India and they were distracted by the “sideshows” of them and that was the reason India won the Test series 2-1 against Australia. Meanwhile, Paine again shared that India were initially hesitant to travel to Brisbane and they were not sure where the final Test of the series would take place also.

While addressing the media at a Chappell Foundation function in Sydney, Tim Paine said that India are good at trying to distract with things that don’t matter and they fell for that in the Test series at home last year as well.

“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,” Paine was quoted as saying by news.com.au.

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“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,” he further added.

As far as the series is concerned, Team India had played without a few of their star players as many were injured at that time. Moreover, their captain Virat Kohli also flew back home after the first Test where India were bowled out for 36 — their lowest score in Test cricket as he was on paternal leave.

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But still, they bounced back well and made history as they convincingly won in Brisbane to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well. In Virat Kohli’s absence, Ajinkya Rahane took over the reins and led the visitors to a series-levelling win in the second Test. And then, India managed to secure a draw at SCG. Later on, in the final Test, young wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant put up a match-winning knock on the final day to help India win the four-match Test series 2-1 as well.