Former Australia Test skipper Tim Paine believes that the entire dynamic of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests in Australia have changed due to the emergence of world class fast bowlers in India.

Prior to 2018, India had not won a Test series in Australia but they have since gone back-to-back, triumphing 2-1 in both the 2018/19 BGT and the 2020/21 BGT. The 2020/21 also saw the side become the first team this century to beat the Aussies at the Gabba. 

With India scheduled to play five Tests in Australia later this year, as part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, Paine spoke about how the dynamic of the clash has changed due to the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.

“Now that India have got high quality fast bowlers, the dynamic of that series, particularly in Australia, has really changed,” Paine told CrickTracker.

“We used to be able to be quite aggressive and bowl a lot of bouncers, have a fun bit of fun getting stuck up to the Indian batters. Now, the shoe is on the other foot, it is actually coming back at us. 

“I am looking forward to the next one watching how your fast bowlers perform here in Australia and how both batting lineups handle the pace,” he added.

In the 2018/19 series, Paine became the first Australian captain to lose a Test series at home to India. Everything behind the scenes from that particular series was captured on camera, as part of ‘The Test’ documentary, and it was revealed in the documentary how the Aussies consciously restrained from sledging Virat Kohli in order to not poke the bear.

Paine spoke about how the notion that Kohli got runs when you fired him up was a bit misleading.

“People used to say, don’t sledge Virat. If you don’t sledge Virat… most of the time still get runs, so it doesn’t really matter whether you’re talking to him or not. I wouldn’t try too much to fire up Virat, but I would try and distract him if I could because if you can get a bit of a distraction, he might play a bad shot or lose his concentration,” he said. 

“But it used to annoy me when people say, oh, don’t sledge him, because people don’t get better because someone’s talking to them.”

If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out — big time. Play Fantasy on Cricket.com NOW! Download the App here.