Australia were beaten by India in the 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India winning the final Test in dramatic fashion to seal a 2-1 victory. Then captain Virat Kohli was on paternity leave after the first Test of the series, with Ajinkya Rahane taking over as skipper. Ishant Sharma was ruled out of the tour through injury, and Rohit Sharma was also unavailable for the first two Tests. Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and KL Rahul were all ruled out of the last two Tests due to injury. Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah and Hanuma Vihari were all also ruled out of the final Test of the series.

Speaking on the Around the Wicket podcast, Paine discussed the comparison of that series to England’s ongoing series in India with Brad Haddin. “But they have been playing against the Indian B team because there has been no Kohli, no Shami, Bumrah got rested last Test, KL Rahul is out and Rishabh Pant is still making his way back from that accident,” said Haddin.

“They are not their strongest team but it just goes to show that the depth in Indian cricket is huge because there are some big names coming into this next era of Indian cricket. Jaiswal is leading the charge; young Jurel was magnificent in the last Test as well. So India are looking very strong.”

Paine responded with: “I know what it’s like to be beaten by an Indian B team. Unfortunately, it happened to us on our home soil. But yes, some huge names out for India, which should have certainly helped the English. I thoroughly enjoy watching England play the game, I love the way they are going about it. I love watching them lose. Don’t get me wrong but they are entertaining and exciting.”

Paine has previously caused controversy by making comments about the England team. He hit out at Jonny Bairstow after the stumping controversy during the 2023 Ashes series and labelled Ben Stokes as ‘selfish’ after reversing his decision to retire from ODIs before the 2023 World Cup.