India and Australia faced off Down Under during the 2018-19 summer, with the tourists claiming the first-ever Test series win on Australian soil 2-1.
The Aussies were reeling without suspended trio Steven Smith, Cameron Bancroft and David Warner, while several youngsters have emerged since that drought-breaking series defeat as they’ve moved back up to the third Test ranking.
The two nations have a four-match Test series scheduled for next December and January as part of the ICC Test Championship.
“No doubt that we’re a better team than we were last time,” Paine said.
“You put in 14 or 15,000 Test runs with Steve Smith and David Warner, and Marnus Labuschagne has come on in leaps and bounds and is now in the top three or four batsmen in the world himself.
“You put that amount of runs in a cricket side that last time we didn’t have (is helpful). This time we’ll be a different kettle of fish.
“We’ve got three of the best batsmen in the world in our top six, we’ve got Matthew Wade firing and he adds some real toughness.
“Travis (Head) has improved a lot since he played here last time.”
It remains to be seen if the series does ahead, with the coronavirus outbreak affecting the current cricket calendar.
Australia are due to play Bangladesh away in a two-Test series in June which is unlikely to be played due to COVID-19, while India has a five-match Test Series against England pencilled in for January 2021.
The ICC T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played in Australia in October and November.