"Lots of dangerous players"- Tim Paine wary of India's threat ahead of 2nd Test
Australian captain Tim Paine has urged his team to be ruthless when they take on India in the second Test in Melbourne. The wicket-keeper batsman feels the ruthless approach should be at the forefront to ensure India don't get away with the upper hand.
There have been talks that India would be mentally scarred after their defeat in the first Test, but Tim Paine isn't banking on that assumption. Speaking at a press conference, the wicketkeeper said-
''We can't pay any attention to mental scars, whatever that people are talking about. We know India is a proud cricket country. They are an extremely talented Test match side with lots of dangerous players, The moment we take out foot off the pedal and think we are going all right, we saw in England in that fifth Test, that we can come unstuck pretty quickly. So, a huge focus of ours since that fifth Test in the Ashes has been winning after winning and our attitude towards the next game.''
"The last week we have been fantastic in the way we have prepared for this game. We know that some of the players they are talking about coming into their side like a KL Rahul or a Rishabh Pant are dangerous players who like to take the game on and will play positively. If we give guys like that an inch, they will take a mile." Tim Paine added further.
Tim Paine isn't taking anything for granted and the 36-year-old is wary of India's strengths, even though the visitors would be without the services of their influential captain Virat Kohli and fast bowler Mohammed Shami.
Tim Paine was adjudged Man of the Match in the Adelaide Test
Australian bowlers might have done all the significant damage in the first Test in Adelaide, but Tim Paine played a crucial knock of 73* which ate up into India's first-innings lead.
Paine's positive approach was the difference maker as he batted with a strike rate of 73.7 when most of the other batsmen found it hard to score runs on the Adelaide surface.