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Australia captain Tim Paine apologises for predicting that India would 'comfortably' beat New Zealand in WTC final
Tim Paine had said that India 'will win pretty comfortably if they play anywhere near their best', but had to take back his words when The BlackCaps were crowned the World Champions of Test cricket
Australia captain Tim Paine has apologised to New Zealand for predicting that India would beat them to win the World Test Championship final. Paine had said that India 'will win pretty comfortably if they play anywhere near their best', but had to take back his words when The BlackCaps were crowned the World Champions of Test cricket and fans across social media went bonkers over his comments.
"We all get some wrong. I copped a bit from the Kiwi fans so I thought I'd come on air and eat some humble pie. I thought the New Zealanders played outstandingly. It's always a pleasure to watch the way they go about it," Paine said on Newstalk ZB.
"For such a small nation — I'm from Tasmania which is obviously our smallest resource state and we punch above our weight — so I certainly respect what the Kiwis do on an international stage."
New Zealand beat India by eight wickets to become the inaugural World Test Champions after a splendid show from their bowlers, which saw the BlackCaps dismiss India for 217 and 170 in the two innings. Kyle Jamieson starred with the ball in the first innings, picking up his fifth five-wicket-haul in only his eight Test, while Tim Southee and Trent Boult shared seven Indian wickets in the second innings.
Set 139 to win, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor took the team over the line and helped New Zealand secure only their second ICC trophy win after the Champions Trophy title in the year 2000.
Earlier in January this year, Paine's Australia had lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-2 to India, after which the Aus skipper had ribbed the Indian fans by claiming that the team had distracted Australia with their 'niggling' and 'sideshows'.
"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," Paine had said in May.
"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."
