"Tim Paine And Australia Will Confront India Again In Brisbane" - Kevin Pietersen

Former England cricketer and someone who has played a lot of cricket against Australia, Kevin Pietersen, feels that Team India must be prepared for sledging from Australia in the fourth Test at the Gabba in Brisbane since it is in Australia’s ‘DNA’.

Australian Test skipper Tim Paine saw himself amid raging controversy and stinging criticism after his expletive-laded remarks to Ravichandran Ashwin in the closing stages of the Sydney Test went viral on social media.

Paine, however, apologized for his behaviour and vowed to lead his team with a better example during an impromptu press conference he called the very next day.

But Kevin Pietersen feels that if Tim Paine and Australia are confronted with the same situation as they were at the SCG, they will once again resort fo sledging.

“If Tim Paine gets himself into another confrontation in the fourth Test, he will go again – regardless of what he says in between Test matches. It is in his and his team’s DNA, so you have to deal with it,” said Kevin Pietersen.

“There’s always going to be confrontation in a big series like Australia v India. There have been confrontations in the past, there will be confrontations in the final Test match of the series, and there will be confrontations when the teams meet again in the future. It’s never going to change, particularly when Australia are involved. Australians play in a certain way,” Pietersen added.

Tim Paine has apologised for his conduct at the SCG, admitting he let pressure get to him during the third #AUSvIND Test and it affected his mood, captaincy and performance: https://t.co/nOlbk1GaUR pic.twitter.com/5BID4OPDYU

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 12, 2021

 

‘They’re desperate to win’- Kevin Pietersen on Australia

Ever since the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering scandal, Australian head coach Justin Langer and its captain Tim Paine have been on an image makeover spree.

The duo had vowed to change the perception of the Australian team in the minds of the general public. However, Kevin Pietersen said that it is ‘silly’ to think that Aussies have all of a sudden become the ‘nice guys’ as they will do anything to win, especially in home conditions.

“Having played against Australia on numerous occasions, you have to accept that you’re going to get sledged – particularly Down Under, where the temperatures are warm and you’re in a fiercely competitive nation. They’re desperate to win, and they’ll do everything they can within the laws of the game to win – although sometimes they are pushing what is and isn’t in the laws of the game. My own view is that players can take sledging as far as they like without getting personal,” Kevin Pietersen said.

”But while there is clearly a debate as to whether Tim Paine and Australia went too far on the fifth day at Sydney, this was always going to happen. The idea that this Australia team is different from previous ones, that they won’t do everything they can on the field to gain an advantage, is silly”, he added.

Also Read: Tim Paine Hits Back At Sunil Gavaskar’s ‘His Days As Captain Are Numbered’ Remark