There have been many speculations going around the future of Tim Paine in the Test side and his tenure as Test captain. Australia’s head coach Justin Langer said the team already have two very good captains and there are no captaincy slots available.
Australia didn’t have the best of home summers. India had toured for a full-fledged tour. While the Aussies won the ODI series 2-1, they lost the T20I series 1-2 and ended up losing the four-match Test series 1-2, failing to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Test series defeat was despite taking a 1-0 lead after the first Test in Adelaide, and it was their second consecutive defeat against India at home (third overall) after the 1-2 loss in 2018-19.
Australia were in pole positions to win the third and the fourth Test on the fifth day. But some brilliance from the Indian batters helped the draw and win the two Test matches, respectively. Tim Paine’s captaincy has come under the scanner, and his wicket-keeping prowess seemed to have dipped as well. His inconsistency with the bat hasn’t helped either.
There have been speculations around his future and position as wicket-keeper and captain of the Australian Test team. Steve Smith’s name has been doing the rounds in media as the Australian team captain once again. The world No.1 Test batsman was stripped of the captaincy in March 2018 following the sandpaper fiasco (ball-tampering scandal) in South Africa, leading to a one-year ban. He couldn’t take over as captain once his ban was over as his captaincy was suspended for two years.
He completed that period in March 2020 and with Australia not having the best of home seasons, Smith’s name has come up once again. The New South Wales cricketer also expressed his desire to lead Australia in the future.
However, head coach Justin Langer has brushed aside all the rumours and speculations. He is in no mood to shift the captain’s armband and made it clear that Australia already have two outstanding captains in Tim Paine and Aaron Finch (for the white-ball formats).
We have two very good captains and two important competitions coming up – an Ashes and a T20 World Cup. Our future looks good. Despite the media chatter, there is no captaincy position available,
Langer was quoted saying to ABC.
