Mohammad Kaif, India’s former middle-order batsman, believed that current Australian wicket-keeper and skipper in tests, Tim Paine might lose captaincy and be axed from the team by the end of 4 match Border Gavaskar test series for poor form.
He made this observation while previewing the upcoming India-Australia Test series on the Sony Sports network.
Mohammad Kaif: Tim Paine Can Confront Indians As He Isn’t In Any IPL Team
Mohammad Kaif was asked whether he expects a recurrence of the heated exchanges between Virat Kohli and Tim Paine from the last Test series in 2018-19 when India won maiden test series 2-1. The Delhi Capitals assistant coach responded that none of the Aussies who play in the IPL are likely to indulge in any verbal altercations.
David Warner leads SunRisers Hyderabad while Aaron Finch had a poor outing in IPL 2020 for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Glenn Maxwell playing for Kings XI Punjab and Pat Cummins of Kolkata Knight Riders had a poor IPL too unlike Marcus Stoinis of Delhi Capitals.
“All the players who play in the IPL, whether it is Finch, Warner or Cummins, none of them are going to fight now.”
However, he added that Tim Paine could be the one again to get involved in some heated discussions as he does not feature in the prestigious extravagant IPL.
“Tim Paine does not play, he knows that he is not going to come to India, he does not have anything to do with the IPL, so he can confront the Indians.”
Tim Paine scored 79 and accumulated 153 runs averaging 38.25 in 3 Tests against New Zealand but failed in England and Pakistan series. He is yet to score a 100 even after playing 31 Tests and has scored only 7 fifties with highest being 92 against India way back in 2010.
Mohammad Kaif: Tim Paine Will Face Axe In Case Of Another Failure With Bat
Mohammad Kaif even suggested that Tim Paine is likely to face the axe by the end of the Test series as he has not been amongst the runs with the bat. He added that Australia only handed over the captaincy to the Tasmanian because they were struggling to cope and were in a desperate situation after ball-tampering controversy.
“I feel by the time the Test series is over, Tim Paine would have been dropped. He is not able to score runs with the bat. He just got the captaincy because Smith and Warner had the problem at the time. They were banned, so he was made the captain in compulsion.”
Mohammad Kaif concluded by stating that Tim Paine should concentrate more on his batting as both of Steve Smith and David Warner are back in the fold after serving the year-long ban.
“Now that they have come back, if he doesn’t score, then his playing in the XI will also be difficult. So it will be better if he concentrates on batting and keeping only this time.”
There have been constant calls in certain quarters for the Australian Test captaincy to be handed back to Steve Smith who was removed from captaincy and banned for a year for alleged involvement in ball-tampering saga along with David Warner. Tim Paine also on the wrong side of 35 years and will try to play a stellar role with bat and behind the stumps as his failure may lead Matthew Wade or Alex Carey to be given responsibility with the gloves.
As suggested by Mohammad Kaif, an indifferent performance from Tim Paine will not only put his captaincy in doubt but even his spot in the Australian Test team at stake.