Australia’s tour of India in 2020-21 was an epic one as it is the same Test series in which the visitors made a remarkable comeback after going 0-1 down the four-match series. After being bundled out for 36 in the second innings of the first Test in Adelaide, India won the series 2–1. The team was led by Ajinkya Rahane in the absence of Virat Kohli who was on his way back home for the birth of his first child. The tour is known for India’s strong mental strength as despite losing players throughout the series due to injuries, they kept bouncing back as replacement players stepped forward and took to the big stage.
After nearly a year and a half, a new documentary ‘Bando Mein Tha Dum’ has come out which tells the story of India’s historical transformation in the series. In the documentary, a comment by the then Australian captain Tim Paine caught the attention of the audience, especially from India. Paine replays an episode of the tour, the second of the series, which was won by India, just after the Melbourne Test.
“Can’t wait to take you to the GABA”
“Can’t wait to bring you to India, this will be your last series”
Tim Paine vs Ravichandran Ashwin.
Throwback to the famous verbal fight during the Australia-India Test series, 2021. pic.twitter.com/y3EKafxRON
— cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) June 15, 2022
In a video that went viral on the internet, five Indian cricketers including Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini were seen at a restaurant waiting for their food to arrive. The video was not liked by the Australian camp as it was not allowed to move around as Covid-19 was spreading rapidly in Sydney. The SCG test was not far away and after that video surfaced, these Indian cricketers were sent to Quarantine and came out only after coming negative.
Speaking on this incident, Paine says that 5 Indian cricketers had put the entire series at stake. Paine said, “I mean those four or five guys risked the whole Test series. For what? Nando’s chips for a bowl or wherever they went, like I find it very selfish to be honest ”
Current Australian Test captain Pat Cummins said that Australians were outraged by the act as some cricketers had to spend Christmas without their families and it was a bit annoying to see the other team flouting the rules and not taking protocol seriously.
However, Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane has revealed in the documentary that such reaction of the Australian cricketers was nothing but a mind game as they were gutted by the defeat in the MCG Test a few days back. “The players seen in the pictures were actually waiting for their takeaway orders. Due to bad weather, they had to wait inside. The story that appeared in the news was actually wrong. The Australian Cricket Board said that when you go to Sydney Will go from Melbourne, no one can come out of the hotel and you have to go through quarantine. The outside world, especially in Sydney, everything was normal. There was no lockdown, everyone was allowed to move around and players were allowed to go home. Was told to stay inside. We knew Australia started playing mind games, especially after what happened in Melbourne.
