AUS v PAK 2019: Tim Paine, Azhar Ali react after Australia's 2-0 Test series sweep

Pakistan suffered its 14th straight Test defeat in Australia.

Australia won the series | GettyCaptain Tim Paine was delighted as Australia followed its innings victory in Brisbane with another in Adelaide and completed a 2-0 Test series whitewash over Pakistan this Monday (December 2). 

The hosts batted first and piled on a massive 589/3 (declared) before bundling the visitors out twice for just 302 & 239. 

David Warner posted a memorable 335* and Marnus Labuschagne (162) scored his second hundred of the series while Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon picked up twelve wickets between them.

Read Also: Nathan Lyon's 16th five-fer helps Australia finish the Test series 2-0

"Really happy," Paine said after the game. "Barring few slip-ups in the field yesterday, we played excellent cricket over the last two matches. We came back from England and we felt, we were getting better all the time. We wanted our batters to score big runs, when your six, seven and eight are not facing lot of balls then your top-order is doing fine."

"David and Marnus have been unbelievably good. Guys have been scoring runs when they have been getting opportunities. We all witnessed a special knock from David Warner. It is among the top one or two innings ever by an Australian. It was a special moment for Australia."

While Pakistan did delay Australia's follow-on call in the first innings with knocks of substance from Babar Azam and centurion Yasir Shah, Paine said there was never any debate over the decision with heavy weather around. "We talked in the break that we wanted to declare," he said. "With weather around, we wanted to have enough time to win the game. Marnus has been fantastic from the back end of the Ashes when he came into the side. He showed his temperament and he also showed that he is very very skilful."

Even though Starc and Lyon got most of the breakthroughs, they were provided able support by Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.  

"Starc is alright. He had some issues with his toe but he is fine. It was an awesome effort from the bowlers. They kept coming all the time," the skipper said. "We are lucky to have those three and the best spinner in the world. You need your spinner to finish games off in the second innings."

However, catching, especially in D/N Tests, is one of Australia's major concerns as Paine looked forward to hosting a very strong New Zealand side for a three-match Test series starting December 12 in Perth. 

"We would like to hold onto more catches. We need to get better with our catching in the day/night Tests. New Zealand are playing very very good cricket and it's gonna be a competitive series with them," he said. 

For Pakistan, it was a yet another forgettable tour of Australia suffering its fifth consecutive Test series whitewash in the country. 

"I would like to congratulate Australia and especially David Warner. We have been beaten by a better team," skipper Azhar Ali said. "We will take some positives from here. As a bowling unit, we need to control the scoring rate. You have to field really well here. And when you get in as a batter, you have to make big partnerships. 

"Yasir Shah put up a brilliant fight in all the innings. Babar Azam has been a big positive for us in this series. And there is no doubt, he will be a big player for Pakistan in the future."

"I would like to thank Cricket Australia for brilliant hospitality. The crowd has been wonderful too."

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 02 Dec, 2019

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