India Vs Australia: Tim Paine accepts India were better team

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Sydney, Jan 7: Tim Paine accepted Australia were beaten by a better team after their series loss to India.

India claimed a Test series win in Australia for the first time after day five of the final Test in Sydney was washed out on Monday, giving the tourists a 2-1 success.

Paine paid tribute to India, saying they were deserved winners, particularly after dominating the final two Tests.

"I think we have to [say we ran into a better team]. You have to tip your hat to India," he told a post-match presentation.

"We know personally going to India and playing in foreign conditions how difficult it is to win overseas so congratulations to Virat [Kohli, captain] and Ravi [Shastri, coach] and their team.

"It's a huge effort to come overseas and win a Test series and first time it's ever been done is a great effort so well done to those guys."

Without their two best batsmen in Steve Smith and David Warner due to suspension, Australia struggled despite winning in Perth.

Paine called for improvement from his team ahead of an upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka.

"We know as a playing group here we need to get better, we've got guys outside this group who are putting pressure on as well which is a good thing," he said.

"As we've touched on a lot, we've got some other guys who are not far off returning as well.

"Through the doom and gloom, there's some positives to come out of this period of time and our group are under no illusions we've got to keep working very hard, we've got to keep improving, we've got a big series coming up against Sri Lanka in a couple of weeks so we've got to keep working hard.

"Cricket's a funny game, we know it can turn really quickly so we've got to keep putting our best foot forward and when it turns, take those opportunities."