India's 'sideshows'? Tim Paine's attempt to sledge Ashwin goes viral after Gabba excuse

Months after being thrashed at home by an under-powered Team India, Australia's Test captain Tim Paine reviewed the thrilling Border Gavaskar series and the famous Gabba battle which saw India's flag held up high at the end of the tour, marking the conquering. Looking back at the closely-fought battle, Paine reasoned that India's 'sideshows' had 'distracted' Australia which led to their eventual loss. Pointing out specifically, the Australian skipper cited previous reports which had suggested that the Indian team was 'unwilling' to go to Gabba due to the quarantine restrictions. 

While Tim Paine claimed that India had 'distracted' Australia, a clip of the Kangaroo skipper sledging Ravichandran Ashwin during the third Test at SCG has gone viral. Netizens have stormed Twitter to remind Paine of his techniques to 'distract' Team India as they fought back strongly to manage a tie in the third Test. Particularly, Paine was caught by the stump mic saying, "Can't wait to get you to Gabba," clearly asserting Australia's dominance at the venue of the fourth Test which was until now proudly called 'Australia's fortress' due to their formidable record there. 

Despite Tim Paine's sledging tactics from behind the stumps, India's heroes Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihar managed to salvage a draw, taking the contest to the fourth and final Test at the Gabba fortress, which was eventually breached by the Men in Blue. Significantly, the Australian skipper had also issued a public apology to Ravichandran Ashwin after the match ended as he admitted his fault.  Here's the clip that has now gone viral: 

'India good at creating sideshows'

Paine, while speaking to the press in Australia, said that India is "very good" at creating sideshows and niggling the opposition with things that don't matter, suggesting his team lost the four-match Test series because they were "distracted". 

"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," Paine was quoted as saying by news.com.au.

Here is how fans reacted to Tim Paine's latest comment about the Test series loss against India: 

India create history at Gabba 

India created history at the Gabba in January this year after defeating Australia in the 4th Test thereby ending Australia's 31 Test unbeaten streak in Brisbane. Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar went all guns blazing in the final session to help India chase down the mammoth 326-run target set by Australia. Wicketkeeper-batsmen Rishabh Pant kept the momentum going for India after Pujara's dismissal and held his nerve to get the visitors across the line. With the win at Brisbane, India now find themselves within visible distance of reaching the World Test Championships finals scheduled to be held in England. By ensuring victory at the Gabba, the Men in Blue also retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy winning the Test series 2-1.