Australia vs India 2018: Loved India’s aggression During the Perth Test - Justin Langer

Justin Langer, the head coach of the Australian Cricket team admitted that he liked India’s aggressive yet not-crossing-the-line approach in the Perth Test and insisted that the heated exchanges between Virat Kohli and Tim Paine were humorous, not abusive.

Meanwhile, Australia bounced back from Adelaide loss to beat the visitors by 146 runs at Perth to level the series. The game witnessed some heated arguments with both the skippers, Virat Kohli, and Tim Paine, going against each other. However, Justin Langer said he enjoyed the confrontation.

“I thought it was brilliant. As the two captains and they’re trying to stamp their authority on the game and I don’t think at any point there was any abuse or any real aggression to it,” Langer told ‘Fox Cricket’.

“In fact, there was a bit of humour and there’s been a lot of talk about banter. There’s got to be some in a Test match. It’s a great part of the game, and there was actually a bit of humour, a bit of Aussie humour as well. That’s what we pride ourselves on – we’ve got a bad reputation in a lot of ways, but when there’s a bit of humour in it I thought it was a good exchange,” he added.

Justin Langer said that the win Australia’s first since the ball tampering scandal — was more relief than joyous.

“When we got Rishabh Pant out, that was the first time in about 16 hours that I relaxed. I just had this sneaking suspicion – he’s a very dangerous player, when he got out I thought ‘ok now we can maybe enjoy it’,” Langer said.

Justin Langer hails Tim Paine’s leadership skills

Speaking about Paine, the former opener stated that the Aussie skipper is a tough guy and a quick learner. Langer also opined that Tim Paine is currently the best wicket-keeper in the world.

“Tim Paine is the toughest pretty boy I’ve seen, but he is incredibly impressive as a captain and a person. He hasn’t got a bad bone in his body. What the world doesn’t see is his presence in the change room,” he said.

“He’s a real learner, he’s very thorough, he prepares as well as anyone … the other thing about Tim Paine we often forget is he’s literally the best keeper in the world…He’s an unbelievable cricketer,” he concluded.