Paine referred to Team India not agreeing to play fourth Test in Brisbane initially.
Australia's Test skipper Tim Paine said his side was distracted by India's sideshows which led to home Test series defeat by 2-1. India had emerged as the winner of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 under stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane.
Paine spoke about India not agreeing to play in Brisbane initially due to the strict quarantine. However, they later went on to play and win the match at the Gabba to create history. Australia were unbeaten at the Gabba for 32 years before India breached the fortress.
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While addressing the media at a Chappell Foundation function in Sydney, Paine said, "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.
"The classic example was when they said they weren't going to the Gabba so we didn't know where we were going. They're very good at creating these sideshows and we took our eye off the ball," he added as quoted by news.com.au.
India's full-time captain Virat Kohli had returned home after the first Test defeat on paternity leave. The team still made a comeback after being bowled out on 36 in the opening Test at Adelaide and won the second match at Melbourne.
They drew the third Test and went on to stun Australia by winning the final Test at the Gabba. Most of the key players of Team India, including R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Hanuma Vihari, and Ravindra Jadeja were injured by the end of the series but they still gave Australia a hard time and clinched the series.