The draw at SCG is a tough one to swallow: Tim Paine

Sydney: As the Pink Test against India ended in a draw, Australia skipper Tim Paine on Monday said that the result was a tough one to swallow and not holding onto catches costed the side.

"I thought we created enough chances to win the game, this one's a tough one to swallow. Our bowlers were superb, (Nathan) Lyon bowled well. Just that we didn't hold onto our catches. Looking forward to Brisbane. We didn't play our best in the last two games, but we were somewhat good with the bat in this Test. There were a few positives for us, our bowlers created plenty of chances," said Paine during the post-match presentation.

"Today was a whole-hearted effort from the boys, just that things didn't go our way. I think having two young kids (Pucovski and Green) playing Test cricket, it's a great thing as they were sensational. I thought Green was fantastic yesterday," he added.

Paine did not have a good day behind the stumps as he ended up dropping three catches (two of Rishabh Pant and one of Hanuma Vihari). He also tried his best to distract Ravichandran Ashwin with constant chatter behind the stumps. But in the end, it did not have an effect.

Batting out 258 balls with a fierce home team throwing everything it had up its sleeves is no mean feat. But the Indian duo of Vihari and R Ashwin stood ground and managed to do just that as they eked out a draw in what was nothing short of an action-packed fifth day in the third Test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Batting out 131 overs -- the most India have batted in the fourth innings of a Test since 1980 - showed exactly what Ashwin meant when he spoke about playing like true warriors at the end of the fourth day's play at the SCG.