Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has taken a sarcastic jibe at Australian captain Tim Paine and also thanked him for playing an important role in Team India’s epic victory at The Gabba.
Paine and Ashwin were involved in a war of words on the third Test’s final day in Sydney when the Tamil Nadu cricketer was trying to save the match along with Hanuma Vihari.
“Can’t wait for you to come to Gabba,” Paine had told Ashwin, before the latter replied, “Just like we want to get you to India that will be your last series.”
Paine then used some derogatory words, and the video of the incident went viral on social media. Several fans and cricket experts lambasted Paine for his abusive rant against Ashwin. The Aussie skipper even had to issue a public apology after the game.
After India won the Border Gavaskar Trophy, Ashwin in a funny way fired some shots at Paine for acting as the ‘perfect hosts’ as the Aussie skipper missed a few stumping chances of Rishabh Pant, who went on to take India over the finish line in Brisbane Test.
“Tim Paine missed the stumping of Pant in the second innings of the Gabba Test. But I started liking him, he invited us, played the perfect hosts by missing the stumping chance, and awarded us the series as well. Can’t say he helped us win 2-1 but yeah, on a sarcastic note, he did,” said Ashwin in a chat with fielding coach R Sridhar on YouTube.
The Ajinkya Rahane and Co. became the first touring side in 32 years to defeat the Aussies at the Gabba even though a number of their players were either ruled out of the series or not playing in the final Test due to injuries, including Ashwin himself.
“I thought Gabba must be really their fortress or something given the way they were hyping. It was 1000 wickets experience versus our 13 wickets experience. In hindsight, it worked out in our favour, I guess. Fresh bowlers on the park. This is the first time that 20 players have been used to win an overseas series,” Ashwin added.
