Australia's Test captain Tim Paine had the satisfaction of seeing his team record a convincing win over Pakistan in the first Test of a 2-match series. Thanks to a great effort from seamers and hundreds by David Warner and Maruns Labuscagne, the Aussies won the match by an innings and five runs.
At the post-match press conference, Paine seemed to be in a good mood. Good enough to talk not just about the ongoing series but also future challenges awaiting his side. While the Aussies were pummeling Pakistan, India were meting out an even more hard-hitting defeat to Bangladesh in the first-ever day-night Test involving Virat Kohli's team.
When a reporter asked Paine whether, during India's tour to Australia next year, he would like to play the visitors at Brisbane (unlike their last tour when they didn't), the Aussie captain gave a straight-faced reply but one which did have a subtle hint of sarcasm.
"We'll certainly try and we'll have to run that by Virat. We'll get an answer from him at some stage I'm sure," the skipper stated.
Tim Paine gives Virat Kohli a little clip in the post-game presser ?
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 24, 2019
The Aussie captain is keen to play against India in Brisbane next summer! pic.twitter.com/NCmGqua67s
The reason why India playing at Brisbane is a big deal is because the Gabba has emerged as the strongest citadel for the Australian Test team. They haven't lost a Test match at this ground for 31 years – their last defeat at this venue was against West Indies in 1988. However, on India's last tour of the country, none of the four Tests were played there.
India went on to win the series 2-1 and record their first-ever Test series win in Australia. If Australia don't play India at Brisbane, they will certainly be failing to fully utilize home advantage.
When the journalist pressed on with his question about the possibility of playing India at this ground, Paine replied: "That's where we like to start our summer and it has been for a long, long time except for last summer.
"As I said, we'll ask Virat and see if we can get his permission to play here and maybe even get a pink-ball Test if he's in a good mood. So, we'll wait and see."
In other words, Paine is suggesting that Virat Kohli and his Indian team are scared of playing at the iconic venue in Queensland. It is this stadium that has had the honour of hosting the first match of the Aussie cricket season. Last year, though, it was Adelaide where the first match of the summer, vs India, started.
It would be interesting to see what is the response from Kohli and the Indian board. In their series victory in Australia, the only defeat suffered by the Indian side was on another fast and bouncy pitch – at Perth. If India refuse to play at Brisbane again, it would be seen as the team and management being scared.
