Melbourne: Buoyed by team’s comprehensive victory in the second Test, a cautious Australian skipper Tim Paine believes that his inexperienced side have the potential to get ahead of India but are still a work in progress.
“I don’t feel like we are on top of them. We feel like we are getting better with every Test,” Paine said on the eve of the Boxing Day Test here.
“We are improving with every game but we need to keep stacking up good days and play good Test cricket. If we can do that for the next 4-5 days I think we will be in the thick of it again,” Paine said.
“Certainly when you have an inexperienced team and you get a big win like in Perth against the No.1 team in the world, guys are going to grow in confidence a little bit and come to Melbourne feeling better than when we did to Perth,” the skipper said.
The skipper added that the journey since leading the side has been a learning curve for him, even as Australian cricket is just starting to come out of a period of strife.
“I haven’t changed a lot. I came into the team and into the job at a time when I have already been through so much as a cricketer and a person. I am bit older than most guys to come back into the scene so I have had a bit more life experience and happy being myself. That’s how I have kept it and so far it is working out okay. No need to change,” he said.
India’s changes don’t bother us. We have been prepared for all of them to play. What they do is their business, and we will keep focussing on what we are doing
Tim Paine