‘Most of it I deserve’ – Tim Paine reacts after getting trolled by Indian fans for his 'sideshows' comment

Although it has been near four months since Team India registered a historic Test series win on Australian soil, several Indian fans are still celebrating the emphatic triumph. It was indeed a test of character for the visitors as all the odds were against them. While regular skipper Virat Kohli flew away home after the first Test, big guns like Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin sustained injuries during the series. However, Team India, under Ajinkya Rahane’s leadership, rose to the occasion and clinched the four-match series 2-1.

While the Indian players earned praises for their spectacular show, Australian captain Tim Paine was brutally trolled. The veteran wicketkeeper was highly criticized for his on-field behaviour during the series. While he got engaged in verbal exchanges with many players, his ‘Can’t Wait to See You at the Gabba Ash’ comment to Ravi Ashwin was the highlight.

On Thursday, Paine made another controversial remark which earned a lot of criticism. In an interaction, Paine claimed that Ajinkya Rahane-led India created ‘sideshows’ during the series and the hosts were distracted. “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,” news.com.au quoted Paine as saying at a function for the Chappell Foundation.

Unsurprisingly, Paine’s statement didn’t go down well with Indian fans and they mercilessly trolled the Australian Test captain. With Twitter flooded with comments trolling Paine, Australian sports journalist Brent Costelloe took and shared a screenshot of some comments and sympathized with Paine. “Almost 6 months on, poor old @tdpaine36 is still copping heat from Indian fans… and these are just the ones I’m tagged in!” he captioned the post.

Interestingly,  Paine came up with a cryptic reply after coming across the post. “Love their passion Brent. Most of it I deserve,” he commented.

Love their passion Brent.
Most of it I deserve 😂

— Tim Paine (@tdpaine36) May 13, 2021

The series loss against India cost Australia a place in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final. While Tim Paine’s men started the series at the top position, they slipped down to third place in the team standings after the defeat. With the following Test series against South Africa scrapped due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Aussies were officially knocked out of the final race.

At the end of the WTC cycle, India and New Zealand were the top two teams, and they will lock horns in the final clash next month. The Ageas Bowl in Southampton will host the much-awaited clash, which gets underway on June 18.