Tim Paine calls Virat Kohli the best player in the world; reveals his mother's advice to dismiss the Indian skipper

Amazon Prime Video, on Wednesday, released the documentary series, the Test. The series depicts the journey of the Australian side after the embarrassing ball-tampering scandal which took place in the Cape Town Test in 2018. The documentary was made to show the transition of the champion side after the scandal which shocked the entire cricket world and also saw several changes in the Cricket Australia and the way the team plays the sport.

In the third episode of the series, Australian Test captain Tim Paine talked about Virat Kohli and the historic Test series in Australia which India won 2-1 in 2018-19. Paine hailed the Indian skipper as outstanding and the best player in the world at the moment.

“India is such a big country. Virat Kohli is so popular over there that he has become a sort of a global superstar. Wherever he goes, there are just people. They are just around him. Outstanding player. Probably the best player in the world at the moment. Well, I just remember watching him in the nets. They put that footage out pre-series and he was absolutely smacking them,” Tim Paine told.

“He’s only another person”, what Paine’s mother told him

Paine recounted what his mother told him about the aggressive Kohli, “And I was sort of thinking that, ‘how are we going to get this bloke out.’ And mum being mum just said, oh, he’s only another person. I said, Oh, OK, Mum, thanks, that’s good advice. That’s gonna help us get him out. Isn’t it?”

Even though the two captains have praised each other, the two were involved in some heated arguments during the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2018-19 in Australia. The most notable one was in Perth during the second Test. In the episode, “A Test of the Character”, 35-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Tasmania talks about what exactly happened during that match.

Tim Paine narrates the war of words with Virat Kohli

“I was just sitting and watching him and he gave few of our guys send-offs. The plan was not to talk to him when he was batting. When we were batting, its kinds of up to the individual they want to do. And I sort of just had enough and thought you also have to stand up for yourselves and stand up for your teammates. And that was one of the reasons. I just thought I am the captain it is my turn now. I have to stand up and show him that we were here for the fight.”

The heated exchanges between the two captains didn’t start after the first Test which India won in Adelaide. It was only during India’s first innings in Perth when the two started the war of words. The exchanges even went to a place where the umpire had to come in and stop the two captains, reminding them that as captains it is not expected from them.

After this, the two captains even came in close contact with each other but that even didn’t stop Kohli from giving another send-off to Paine after the latter got out. The Indian captain had scored a brilliant century in the first innings but he failed to inspire his team to a victory in the second innings.