R Ashwin takes a dig at Tim Paine: He invited us to Gabba and played perfect host by missing Pant’s stumping

Indian spinner R Ashwin once again aimed a cheeky dig at Australian Test skipper Tim Paine over his ‘Can’t wait to take you to Gabba’ comment during the third Test of the recently-concluded series. Paine’s remarks came back to haunt him after Australia lost the series-deciding fourth Test by 4 wickets at their fortress – The Gabba to lose the series 2-1.

Pant and Ashwin were involved in a sledging war on Day 5 of the third Test in Sydney where the spinner produced a batting masterclass to combine with Hanuma Vihari and script a heroic draw for India to keep the series alive at 1-1. Ashwin was later ruled out of the series-decider due to back issues as India went on to stun Australia in Brisbane despite missing a host of key players.

“Can’t wait to take you to Gabba, Ash” – Paine had told Ashwin trying to sledge him from behind the stumps on Day 5 of the third Test. Ashwin hit back at the Aussie skipper by saying:  “Just like we wanna get you to India, maybe your last series.” The video of their sledging war had gone viral on social media with Paine also getting criticised for using a cuss word for the Indian spinner.

Ashwin took a cheeky dig at Paine while speaking about the infamous sledging incident in a recent video on his YouTube channel where he can be seen in conversation with India’s fielding coach R Sridhar. Recalling Paine’s Gabba remark, Ashwin says the Australian Test captain played a perfect host for the Indians as he dropped Rishabh Pant’s easy catch, allowing the left-hander to take India over the line in the 328-run chase at the Gabba on Day 5.

“Tim Paine missed the stumping of Pant in the second innings of the Gabba Test. But I started liking him, he invited us, played the perfect hosts by missing the stumping chance, and awarded us the series as well. Can’t say he helped us win 2-1 but yeah, on a sarcastic note, he did,” Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“I thought Gabba must be really their fortress or something given the way they were hyping. It was 1000 wickets experience versus our 13 wickets experience.

“In hindsight, it worked out in our favour, I guess. Fresh bowlers on the park. This is the first time that 20 players have been used to win an overseas series,” he added.