Kevin Pietersen has said Australia should look beyond Tim Paine for Test captaincy after India won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 with a stunning win in Brisbane in 4th Test.
Kevin Pietersen, former England batsman said he never rated keeper Tim Paine as a good enough player and didn’t see him lead Australia in another Test.
Kevin Pietersen: Tim Paine Never Been A Good Captain And Cricket Australia Will Soon Be Looking For A New Skipper
Tim Paine took charge of the Australian Test team following the 2018 sandpaper scandal in South Africa which saw Steve Smith and David Warner banned for 1 year and sacked as skipper and vice-captain respectively. He has since led his country to 11 wins, four draws and eight defeats.
“Australians don’t like to lose and the knives will be out for a few members of that team after this defeat,” Kevin Pietersen wrote in Betway.
“We heard Tim Paine tell Ravichandran Ashwin that he “can’t wait to get you to the Gabba” – well they’ve been whacked at the Gabba, so where are they going to go now? I believe that Cricket Australia will soon be looking for a new captain – Paine has never, ever been up to it,” said Kevin Pietersen.
“He got chucked into that position when Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft got caught up in the sandpaper controversy, but from my perspective, having played against him and watched him, he’s not an Australia captain. He’s just not a good enough player, apart from anything else. I would never have made him captain in the first place, and he’s probably never going to lead them into another Test match,” Kevin Pietersen wrote.
After the third Test match was slipping away from Australia‘s hand, skipper Tim Paine was caught on the stump mic abusing Ravichandran Ashwin. The video of the same went viral on social media and netizens criticized him severely after which, the wicketkeeper-batsman called for a press conference and apologized for his misconduct.
Tim Paine Still Loving Captaincy And Looks Forward To South Africa Tour
Tim Paine himself had spoken about his future as Australia captain after the series loss against India, saying he intended to stick on.
“Nah not (thinking about it) at the moment to be honest,” Paine had said when asked about his future as captain.
“Still looking forward to going to South Africa and have the goal of reaching the Test championship final. I’ve said many times in the last two or three years, I don’t look past the next series. I’m loving doing my job. It’s a difficult job and at times like this it can be bloody hard work. But that’s what I signed up for. I didn’t play my best cricket at times in this series.”
“I’ll go away and look to get better, improve parts of my game and I won’t be looking past that game. I’m loving it. I’m going to cop heaps of flack I’ve been absolutely belted by the Indians (on social media) for the last seven days. That’s part of the course of the job there’s people out there that get paid to critic the game and the job. I know when I’ve made mistakes and I try to get better. I am enjoying it. This has certainly been different for the last two games and in the criticism has come my way.”
The 36-year-old helped Australia retain the Ashes in 2019, but the recently-concluded series against India has certainly hampered his prospect to continue as captain. With the Ashes coming up later this year, the Australians will look to ensure that they do not suffer another series defeat to arch-rival England.
Tim Paine is expected to lead Australia in the upcoming tour of South Africa. But with no other Test series scheduled up until the Ashes (except perhaps a one-off Test against Afghanistan), failure to win against the Proteas may well tempt the selectors into dropping the wicket-keeper-batsman.
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