Deep Dasgupta Reckons Tim Paine Is Making Excuses As India Didn’t Play Mind Games

May 14, 2021 at 4:39 PM

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Deep Dasgupta Reckons Tim Paine Is Making Excuses As India Didn’t Play Mind Games

Deep Dasgupta has reacted to Australia Test team captain Tim Paine’s comment which he stated that India is good at niggling and distracting their oppositions. Notably, India had defeated hosts Australia in the absence of several senior players in the 4th and decisive Test at Gabba in January.

Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta reacted to Tim Paine’s comment, saying Australia messed it up as India didn’t play mind games for none of the players denied travelling to Brisbane, Gabba.

Deep Dasgupta. (Photo Source: Instagram)
Deep Dasgupta. (Photo Source: Instagram)

Deep Dasgupta: Tim Paine Making Excuses As The Decision Of Not Going To Gabba Was A Genuine Issue

Australia Test team captain Tim Paine, speaking to the press on Thursday, pointed fingers at reports of India unwilling to go to Brisbane for the final Test of the 4-match Test series as one of their efforts to distract the host team. While there was speculation about India’s reluctance over quarantine rules in Brisbane, none of the players or the team management said they would not travel to Queensland.

Eventually, the final Test went ahead at the Gabba only to see Australia lose in the longest format at the venue for the first time in 32 years.

Australia Test skipper Tim Paine
Australia Test skipper Tim Paine (Photo | AP)

What made the win more special was that India played the final Test without Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari. All the aforementioned players, except Virat Kohli (who took a paternity leave), got injured by the end of the third Test in Sydney. From getting all-out on 36 in the first Test, India bounced back to seal the series 2-1 in their favour.

“Part of the challenge of playing against India is they’re very good at niggling you and trying to distract you with stuff that doesn’t really matter and there were times in that series where we fell for that,” Tim Paine said, as quoted by news.com.au.

“The classic example was when they said they weren’t going to the Gabba so we didn’t know where we were going. They’re very good at creating these sideshows and we took our eye off the ball.”

Speaking to Sports Today, Deep Dasgupta has said that the Indian team never indulges itself in mind games and sideshows, adding that not even a single person from the camp denied travelling to Brisbane, where they had to follow strict quarantine rules. The 43-year-old added that the Australian team just messed it up and lost a Test at Gabba for the first time in 32 years.

“I don’t think he is making excuses, to be honest. After so many months I think he was answering a question or whatever. But having said that, the fact that they did take their eyes off the ball is their fault, isn’t it? There was a genuine issue there, it was not that India was trying to plan up an issue,” Deep Dasgupta said.

“It was a genuine issue of the Indian team going there, getting into a quarantine, into isolation before a game. It was a genuine issue which the Indian team brought up and mind you none of the players, team management and coaching staff said anything about it. It was just hearsay or people generally talking or rumours. I don’t think any players of support staff said about not going to Gabba,” Deep Dasgupta said.

Tim Paine received a lot of flak after his side went 2-1 against a depleted Indian side which was without captain Virat Kohli after the first Test wherein the visitors were bundled out for 36, their lowest-ever Test score. India bounced back, hammering Australia in Melbourne before they sealed a heroic draw in Sydney, denying Australia with some gutsy batting on a Day 5 pitch at the SCG.

Deep Dasgupta: Australia Messed It Up And It Was Their Fault To Take Their Eyes Off The Ball

The problems got bigger and bigger for India as they were without even one of their frontline bowlers for the fourth and final Test at the Gabba, where Australia hadn’t lost a Test since 1988. However, stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s men breached the Gabba fortress, sealing an emphatic win after chasing down 329 on the final day.

“If there was no official statement what were they talking about and what are they talking about, who were they listening to. So, basically, they messed it and lost after 30-plus years at Gabba, they lost back-to-back series to India without the Indian team not having quite a few players available for that game.

“It’s their fault to take their eyes off the ball. I don’t think India played any mind game, to be honest. I find it really amusing that he has to bring this up now and I mean just too bad that they fell for it. I don’t think I have never heard of an Indian team playing mind games and sideshows,” Deep Dasgupta told Sports Today.

Virat Kohli, Image Source : AP IMAGE
Virat Kohli, Image Source: AP IMAGE

Virat Kohli-led India is set to travel to England for the World Test Championship final versus New Zealand followed by a 5-match Test series against Joe Root‘s men. India defeated England 3-1 in the homes Test series after their Australia tour which concluded in January.

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