SYDNEY: Former Australia captain Tim Paine feels Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney's fighting performance in the face of a swinging pink ball on the opening day was a crucial effort in the often "harshly treated" home team's 10-wicket victory over India in the second Test in Adelaide.
Labuschagne, who had been under the pump after a prolonged lean patch, and newcomer McSweeney navigated the challenging final session on the opening day by putting up a 57-run stand.
It was a laudable effort given that Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was looking quite dangerous with the pink ball that is known to move more under the lights.
"I thought the last session of the first day was Test cricket at its absolute best," Paine said on SEN.
"You've got an absolute champion running in full steam under lights with a pink ball. You've got one of our absolute champions who's averaged 60 plus at times fighting to save his career and you've got a kid in his second Test trying to establish himself. I thought both of those guys for different reasons were huge. That was just as good as professional sports get when you've got players that are so good fighting so desperately," he added.
Australia, who had drawn a lot of flak for the 295-run loss in the opening Perth Test, bounced back to level the five match series 1-1.
The next game is in Brisbane starting December 14.
"A bit of relief I would have thought, no doubt. The pressure that was on them and the response that people were wanting to see," Paine said.
"This is a harshly treated team at times, but they are one of the great teams. They have won everything but the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and they know that, they've spoken about that, this is the one they want to tick off," he added.
While Labuschagne notched a composed fifty, opener McSweeney, who is playing his debut series, scored 39 in the second essay.
Pat Cummins (2/41 and 5/57), Mitchell Starc (6/48 and 2/60) and Travis Head (140) were the other standout players for the side.
"It does not get any better than that. It doesn't get any harder. For Marnus and Nathan McSweeney at different points of their career to be able to nail down get through. that just put Australia so far out in front of that Test match," Paine noted.
While Australia extended their brilliant record in pink-ball games, Paine did note that India hasn't played many day-night games.
"I thought the way they responded under immense pressure was huge, albeit in a pink ball Test where we have a great record and India don't get to see it that much."