Tim Paine, disappointed after Australia’s first Test loss against India, criticised senior pacer Mitchell Star and reflected on his poor performance. The Australian Test skipper Paine said that Starc did not “set the world on fire” and there is a big difference between his best and current form.
Australia lost the first Test to India by 31 runs. Apart from Travis Head, Shaun Marsh half-centuries and Nathan Lyon’s six-wicket haul, there were not many positives for the hosts.
“There was a number of reasons why we lost,” Paine said.
“We thought we could have cleaned them up on day one for 200-210 and we let that slip a bit. Clearly we’d like to score more than 230 in a first innings in Australia. There’s things we do need to tighten up.”
“He (Mitchell Starc) didn’t set the world on fire but I think, for a long time, there’s been a really big gap between Starcy’s best and his worst,” said Paine.
“And from what I’m seeing, that is getting closer and closer every day. Was he at his best? Probably not. But I still thought he played his role,” the 34-year-old added.
