Paine struggles to find any gain from Australia loss

SYDNEY: Australia skipper Tim Paine desperately looked for positives Monday after his side’s calamitous 2-1 Test series loss to India, but struggled to find many.

While they won in Perth, Australia were comprehensively outplayed the rest of the series, losing in Adelaide and Melbourne before being spared by the rain in a one-sided Sydney finale.Pace spearhead Mitchell Starc failed to fire, and Australia’s batsmen plumbed disappointing lows.

“We’re really disappointed. We know we had some guys missing but we honestly felt coming into this series that in Australia, we could beat India,” said Paine, who has won only one of the seven Tests he has been in charge.

“But throughout the series, more often than not when those big moments came up, Virat (Kohli) scored a century or (Cheteshwar) Pujara scored one, or (Jasprit) Bumrah bowled a great spell and got them through those moments.

“Their best players stood up in the big moments.”The same can’t be said for Australia, who capitulated at crucial times. Starc was criticised for not being at his best, while none of the batsmen reached three figures, making it the hosts’ first four-Test home series without scoring a century in their history. It exposed the gaping hole left by the banned Steve Smith and David Warner, who are due back from 12-month ball-tampering bans in late March.