Tim Paine and Virat Kohli
Australia on Monday capped off their home season under the ongoing World Test Championship with a clean sweep against New Zealand in the three-game series following a 279-run win in Sydney. Following the win, Australian skipper Tim Paine sent a warning to Virat Kohli and his men, who rea presently ruling the ongoing tournament.
With the win at SCG, Australia won all five matches at home in the Test Championship, a 2-0 win against Pakistan beging the first. Earlier in the year, they successfully retained the Ashes in England with a 2-2 win. Overall, they stand second with 296 points from seven wins.
"I came into this summer expecting to win all five Tests," Paine told reporters. "I think now we've got a team together that is really consistent, we've got a number of match-winners with both bat and ball and our lesser players have improved a hell of a lot over the last 12 months.
"We've probably become more ruthless which was something we wanted to be. We've got great quality throughout our side and it's a very exciting team to be part of."
Australia's next Test series is against Bangladesh, in June and July, which will be followed by the most anticipated and "mouth-watering" (as described by Paine) contest in World Test Championship - India versus Australia in Down Under.
"We're certainly a different side than what they played against last year," Paine added.
"There's (also) Test championship points at stake and I think both India and Australia are eyeing off that final so every point is going to be critical.
"If we can continue our upward trend, you're potentially talking about the top two teams in the world so it's going to be an awesome series."
The last time the two faced each other was in Australia when the hosts were without Steve Smith, David Warner and Mitchell Starc. India won the series 2-1 with Kohli being the first Asian skipper to win a Test series in Australia.
India now stand atop in World Test Championship table with 390 points from seven wins in seven games.
"Every team wants to be ruthless," he said.
"(But) I think there were probably periods in the Test series against India we should have capitalised on, but through wanting it too much, or trying too hard, or putting too much pressure on ourselves, we let it slip," Paine added.
"When those big moments come now, we just focus on executing our roles."
