Four years after being handed the duty of leading Australian cricket team despite the ball-tampering saga, Tim Paine's leadership has come under the scanner. The hosts’ 32-year-long streak at the iconic venue ended on Tuesday when India sealed a win and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
During the post-match presentation ceremony, there were boos at the Gabba for Tim Paine. The skipper was honest in his valuation of the series as he accepted that they were carefully outplayed by the Indian team.
Tim Paine said, “Indian side fully deserve the series win. We were here to win the series but we have just been outplayed by a disciplined Indian team. We will now go through it as a group as we have to look back over many things. We have been defeated by a better side this series.”
After the defeat, many former cricketers lashed on the captain.
Australia’s legendary spinner Shane Warne was confused when that Nathan Lyon and Tim Paine didn’t have a catching fielder on the off-side for Cheteshwar Pujara on the fifth day of the fourth Test in Brisbane. Fox Cricket quoted Warne as saying, “I just cannot believe it, after everything with the last series and this series and how he has bowled to Pujara with a bat-pad on the off-side, he looks a completely different player.”
He added, “What sort of conversations have they had with no bat-pad to start with this morning? I’m in shock. I’ve been disappointed with some of the tactics from the Australians this series, but this doesn’t make any sense whatsoever as well. I just cannot explain why he hasn’t got one.”
Mark Waugh, also slammed Australia’s poor field placements in the tight moments. “It’s really annoying me watching this. There’s so many men on the leg-side (instead), surely you can do away with one of those,” Waugh said.
Apart from former cricketers, netizens also made some funny memes on Tim Paine. Check some of them below:
