Virat Kohli savours 'special' India win as Tim Paine hails Australia's fight
Australia captain Tim Paine: "We fought really hard and never gave up - you don't have to talk rubbish and carry on like a pork chop to prove that."
Monday 10 December 2018 11:26, UK
Virat Kohli savoured a "special" victory after India recorded their first Test win in Australia in over a decade.
Kohli's side overcame a stubborn fightback from Australia's lower order, including Nathan Lyon (38no), to triumph by 31 runs in Adelaide, their first Test success in the country since January 2008 in Perth.
Tim Paine's hosts rallied from 187-7, but Ravichandran Ashwin ended hopes of a famous win for the Baggy Greens when he had last man Josh Hazlewood caught at slip shortly before tea on day five.
"Obviously it's a great feeling. We've never taken a lead in a series in Australia, something that for us is a huge boost," said Kohli, whose side now head to Perth for Friday's second Test of four.
"It's given us the right momentum that we needed to play a big series like this and it's something that we've had to work hard for.
"Any Test victory is special because you work hard over five days, and when the physical and the mental toil and the emotion of it all comes together in a result it is a very special feeling."
Cheteshwar Pujara scored 123 in India's first innings as they recovered from 41-4 to post 250 and then struck 71 second time around as the tourists carded 307 to set Australia an Adelaide-record 323 for victory.
"It was priceless from Pujara, we were down and out at lunch on day one," added Kohli. "His grit and determination brought us back in it.
"In the second innings again, he and [Ajinkya] Rahane batted well. We could have added another 30-35 runs more which could have taken the game totally beyond Australia.
"These are things that we have to think about going to Perth, but if someone had told me before the series that I would be 1-0 up as soon we started the series, I would have taken it with both hands."
Australia are playing their first home Test series since the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in March which led to bans for Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.
Paine says his team proved in Adelaide that they can "fight hard" without "carrying on like a pork chop".
"We played in good spirits," said Paine. "I don't know about the Indians, we didn't pay attention to them and we won't be for the whole series.
"We can only concentrate on the brand and the style of cricket that we want to play and I thought today [Monday] was a nice snapshot of how we want to go about it.
"We fought really hard and never gave up - you don't have to talk rubbish and carry on like a pork chop to prove that."
Lyon, Michell Starc (28), Pat Cummins (28) and Hazlewood (13) delayed India's victory and received hearty praise from their skipper.
"You see those four together and you can see how much it means to them playing for Australia, whether with bat, ball or in the field," added Paine.
"You can't question their commitment. They have a red-hot crack every single ball. That's what we're building to, that's the style we want to play.
"They're obviously some of our more experienced players and I think the more they do that the more it will rub off on the rest of the group."
