'I played with him as captain and he was excellent' - Tim Paine backs Steve Smith to lead Australia again

Earlier this year, India scripted a memorable victory against Australia in the four-match Test series by 2-1. The fact that India emerged victorious after a number of main players had to skip the series due to injury or personal reasons, made it sweeter for the visiting nation. However, it also invited a lot of criticisms for the home team, especially Test skipper Tim Paine, and he was placed under major scrutiny by the fans and cricket analysts.

Since then there have been talks regarding sacking Paine as a captain and making Steve Smith the leader again. Paine was handed Australia’s captaincy in the purest format after Smith was found guilty in the ball-tampering scandal and was given a year-ban from the game followed by a two-year leadership ban. 

Meanwhile, amidst all the talks regarding removing Paine from the leadership duties, the Test skipper backed Smith to succeed him. Paine believes that Smith is an excellent leader and can take the team to great heights. The skipper added that he will extend support to Smith in captaining the side again.

“I don’t make that decision but the time I played with Steve as captain he was excellent. Certainly tactically he is as good as you get. Then obviously South Africa events [ball-tampering] happened and he’s not doing it anymore. But, yeah, I would support him getting that job again,” Paine said in comments published by News Corp media on Thursday.

If we’ve beaten the ‘Poms’ 5-0, what a way to go out: Tim Paine

Further in the interaction, the 36-year-old asserted that he might think of bidding adieu to the gentleman’s game if Australia dominates England in the upcoming Ashes series by 5-0. Paine believes that there won’t be any better way than a 5-0 win to move out from the team. However, the keeper believes that he might continue his stint if he plays a match-defining role in taking Australia to victory in Ashes.

“If I feel like the time is right and we’ve beaten the ‘Poms’ 5-0, what a way to go out. But it might be a tight series and we might be chasing 300 on the last day and I’m 100 not out and hit the winning runs — and then I might go again,” Paine concluded.