Test series defeat to India still haunts Paine

Australian Test captain Tim Paine has revealed he still hasn't gotten over the 2018-19 Test series defeat to India.

India made history two years ago when they defeated the Aussies 2-1 in their first-ever Test series win in Australia.

It was also Paine's first taste of Test captaincy on home soil after taking over from former skipper Steve Smith who was serving a suspension for his involvement in the ball-tampering saga.

Reflecting on the series, the 35-year-old admitted he's still haunted by the result and despite not having Smith and David Warner in the squad at the time, there was no excuse for Australia to have lost to India.

"Certainly for me sitting back it still annoys me that we lost that Test series," Paine told 2GB's Wide World of Sports Radio.

"Whether we had Steve or David or not you don't want to be losing any Test matches or Test series you're involved in, so that still grinds me a little bit."

"I know that it drives a lot of the guys that were involved in that and I certainly know Steve and David are looking forward to coming back and showing just how good they are as well.

This time around, Paine will head into the series with India having won his past five Test matches as captain of the Australian side.

When Australia open the series in Adelaide next month, the Australian captain said he's confident the squad will be much better prepared this time against India.

"I think we're a much better all-round side," he added.

"Not just adding Steve and David back into it, which is a hell of a lot of runs to add back into a side, but I think every other cricketer in that team has improved in the last 18 months as well and we've been playing some really good cricket, whereas back then I think we were finding our way through a really challenging or different type of set-up.

"Everyone is absolutely pumped. The key is going to be last time we didn't get enough runs, this time, I think a few of our players have spoken about it, if we can make their fast bowlers bowl more overs than last time, I think our attack showed we can get the 20 wickets one way or another."