Australia vs India Boxing Day Test: Tim Paine reveals team for second test

Australian Test captain Tim Paine has revealed what changes will be made for the Boxing Day test, after their demolition of India in Adelaide.

Looking to score is key to staying alive under lights, according to Tim Paine

Happy Christmas. I know it’s hard for a lot of people out there with what is going on and a lot of you are separated from your families. We are all thinking of you and hope that everything will be a little more normal again soon.

Hopefully last week’s Test match in Adelaide gave you as much enjoyment as it did for us.

We were so excited to play it. The feeling on the field and between the teams was special — we were just so happy to be out there playing again. I’m sure you saw the smiles on our faces and spirit between the two teams.

I’d like to say I’m sorry it was over so quickly, but my heart wouldn’t be in that statement.

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Tim Paine received man of the match for the Adelaide test, thanks partly to his match-saving first innings score of 73*. Picture: Getty Images.

Next stop MCG for Boxing Day. We’ve got a few families and a few players who couldn’t make it into the bubble which is not great, but I know everyone is going through that.

It’s going to be a great game, there’s nothing like the stadium on the first day of a big Test. The team’s playing with confidence. I’m no selector but I can’t see us making any changes and it’s going to be a challenge to take on India in different conditions. I’m sure they will come back at us hard.

In the past 18 months we learned how good Marnus Labuschagne is as a batsman and in recent months I have discovered just how good he is as a batting coach.

He is obviously a batting tragic, but he also spends a lot of time coaching kids at his club in Brisbane and I noticed last year he was always good at explaining why he was doing something or why something would work.

Paine admits he was struggling with his batting earlier in the year, but some tips from Marnus Labuschagne helped him lift his game. Picture: AAP.

We played Queensland in the first game in the Sheffield Shield this year and I got bowled in the second innings on the top of off stump. I’ve got out a lot like that getting squared up and I was talking to him about it afterwards.

We talked about it at dinner and took it back to the hotel room where we ended up shadow batting and he advised me to make a few changes.

I did a bit of work with our Tasmanian batting coach, Wade Townsend, in the week before the next game and I just thought, “bugger it, I am going to change a few things”.

The first time I did it was the South Australian game and I got a hundred. There haven’t been too many of them in my career so I was pumped.

People watching me noticed I was batting a lot in the lead-up to that game. I was in the nets until 8pm one night and had more practice the next morning.

The reason I did that was because I’d changed my set-up.

I changed where I was holding the bat — where my hands were in the set-up — and few other little things. I only decided to do it three or four days before the game so I had to get used to it.

Tim Paine has adjusted his technique and the work is paying off. Picture: AFP.

Steve Smith is clearly the best batsman in the world, but you can’t go to him because only Steve Smith can bat like Steve Smith. Having said that, Marnus had been watching Steve, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson for some time and noticed their hands were near their back hip in the set-up and adopted it from them.

Basically, I guess, it’s a hand-me-down technique.

Part of it is I am much stiller and ready to pounce on anything. Play the ball later. It’s a simpler set-up whereas during my career I would feel different day to day and have to tinker.

I felt great in the middle in that first innings. One thing I told myself was not to worry about the pink ball or the lights. I was determined to try and score, because in those conditions if you think about surviving you will get a ball that gets you out.

Joe Burns helped ease the pressure on his spot in the team, scoring 51* in the second innings against India. Picture: AFP.

Speaking of batting, what about our openers? It was great to see Joe Burns thrive in that second innings.

Part of our team culture is to stick with people who have served us well when they are going through tough times. Loyalty is important and Joe is important to us. He was out of form in the Sheffield Shield but we knew how good he was and how good he can be if we backed him. We love Joe.

Matthew Wade demonstrated our “we not me” principle. He put the team ahead of himself by moving out of his spot to open in David Warner’s absence.

If you do the team things it is more important to us than anything and we will back you. Matty took one for the team and that’s why we will always back him.

Another bloke who needs a shout out is the “Baby Giraffe”, Cameron Green. What a great kid. Gee he moves well in the field and boy he looked like he belongs.

And another thing: our bowlers proved why they are the best in the world.

I hear there is talk about not bowling bouncers to the tail, but tailenders are not what they used to be. Most are handy with a bat and most love batting and there’s one way to stop them loving batting.

You take your foot off the accelerator when the tail comes in and you can easily lose a Test. Jasprit Bumrah top scored from No 10 in the tour match.

If you watch you’ll notice it is not always the short ball that gets them out. It’s often used when they slog a few so we can get them a bit hesitant.

We’ll keep doing it.

See you on Boxing Day.