Dubai: The joke was on Justin Langer at the Australian training session in Abu Dhabi. Langer, a man that speaks so highly of the ‘baggy green’ cap had just finished his pep talk when suddenly Mitch Marsh decided to walk into the middle of the group and handed Langer an ‘Australian yellow floppy hat’. All the players burst out in laughter. Langer smiled, kissed the Australian emblem on the hat, pumped his fist and then started his discussion with skipper Tim Paine.
It has only been one Test, but Langer seems to have already created a strong bond between him and the players. By the end of his second Test, Langer could well achieve what Australian cricket has been striving for in the last seven years – a series win in Asia. Tim Paine, the captain and one of the men that defied Pakistan for over two hours on the final afternoon is aware of his team’s accomplishments but wants his peers to strive harder for that elusive series win in the sub-continent.
“It’d be a massive thing for any Australian side, and for this one in particular. I touched on it last week that not many people gave us a chance over here, which is a great opportunity for us to prove people wrong and a great thing to keep driving us.
“We’re trying to get better every day, and if we manage to play our best next week maybe that is possible. But we’ve got to turn up for a really tough match, it’s going to last five days and we’ve got to be on for all of those five days and every session,” Paine told reporter
