PERTH: Australia captain Tim Paine was a relieved man after his team beat India by 146 runs in Perth on Tuesday to level the series with their first Test win since the ball-tampering ‘sandpapergate’ scandal that rocked international cricket.

It was Paine’s first Test win in five matches since taking over from the suspended Steve Smith in South Africa, and also the first victory for new coach Justin Langer, coming in his hometown.

Paine, who was involved in a verbal spat with Indian counterpart Virat Kohli on the third and fourth days, said the overwhelming emotion was relief at finally being able to put a dark period in Australian cricket behind them.

“I’m relieved personally,” he said. “It’s been hard work — the first two Tests of this series have been really tough. “We’ve got some inexperienced players in terms of Test matches played, to get a win like that against the best Test team in the world is going to give them a huge boost of confidence.”

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2018