Australia skipper Tim Paine on Friday said he wants to stay flexible with his batting, depending on the situation he comes in and added that his performance in the first Test against India does not put any extra pressure on him going into the second Test to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Paine had scored an important unbeaten 73 under pressure against India in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval to take his side within 53 runs of Indian total. The Aussies at one point were struggling at 111/7 before Paine’s rescue act took them to 191 and brought them back into the Test.
“For me as a batsman, my innings have been few and far in-between where I’ve had to impact the game. I have been lucky that in our great side, the top six normally do the job and last Test match, it was my turn to stand up. So yeah, whether I am going there at 5 for 3-400 or 5 for 70, I have got a job to do and as I have said before my role of changes depending who I am batting with and the situation of the game,” said Paine on the eve of the Boxing Day Test.
“I am going to be flexible. Sometimes it is going to be my turn to dig in and score runs and that was the case in Adelaide. Hopefully, we will come out this week and have a lot more runs on the board,” he added.
The wicketkeeper-batsman had recently written in a column for The Australian that Marnus Labuschagne had helped him tweak his batting technique during the Sheffield Shield games ahead of the Indian series — adjusting pick-up position of his bat to sit closer to his back hip at around the same spot Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson have it.
“I have felt pretty good since I made the change during the South Australian Shield game. For me it’s been about just having more time to become accustomed to it and make it more second nature rather than having to think about it. I can certainly feel that’s happening now,” said the 36-year-old.
“I’m someone who needs to write a bit of stuff down to remind myself, particularly when it comes to my batting, but I’ve found the last couple of weeks that little changes now I don’t have to think about, and when that’s the case I can just watch the ball. It’s been a good start to the series but it’s only one innings,” added Paine ahead of the second Test that would be telecast live on Sony Ten 1, Sony Ten 3 and Sony Six channels.