1st Test: Tim Paine 'shattered' after loss to India, singles out Cheteshwar Pujara as difference
Australia captain Tim Paine feels 'shattered' after Australia's loss to India in the domain Test in Adelaide. The hosts put up a valiant fight but succumbed to the Indian attack on the final day of the 1st Test. India won the series opener by a comfortable 31 runs. (Match Highlights)
Chasing 323, the hosts were bowled out for 291 in 119.5 overs shortly before tea on day five with Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami taking three wickets each for a 1-0 lead in the four-match series. (Match Scorecard)
Things went too close for comfort for India as Nathan Lyon (38 not out) and Josh Hazlewood (13) put on 42 runs for the last wicket and frustrated the Indian bowling. The sparse crowd at Adelaide Oval cheered every single as the duo edged closer and the odd boundary didn't help matters.
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Finally, things came to a close as Ashwin had Hazlewood caught at second slip in the 120th over to register India's sixth Test win on Australian soil.
"It's pretty shattering really. Proud of the fight from the lower order. A well-deserved win for India. We thought we could win, no doubt about that, but our batters couldn't bat for long enough with our tail," said Paine in the post-match presentation.
"We saw how the pitch is playing and told ourselves we are gonna dig deep, but unfortunately, myself, Travis and Shaun couldn't bat long as long as we should have."
The Aussie captain singled out Cheteshwar Pujara as the difference between the two sides. The Saurastrian scored his maiden ton on Australia soil, his 15th Test century. It was Pujara who anchored India's innings after they were 41/4 in the first innings in Adelaide.
"That's (Pujara's innings) the difference between the two sides. Really hard to get him (Pujara) out. We gotta cope with the belief that we can win this Test series, we just need someone in our top six to go big ."
Post lunch, India had a big early breakthrough when Australian skipper Tim Paine (41) played an uncharacteristic pull shot off Bumrah and only managed to loop it up for Pant to take an easy catch.
The visitors then were bothered by two lower-order stands. First, Mitchell Starc (28) and Pat Cummins (28) put on 41 runs for the eighth wicket and carried Australia past 200 in the 89th over.
While Shami broke through that partnership, things didn't ease out. Pant could have had 12 dismissals but he dropped Lyon in the 105th over off Bumrah.
Australia will next host India in the 2nd Test at Perth on December 14 (Thursday).
