"I’ll never back down from my opinion that it was poorly handled, embarrassing and unprofessional" - Tim Paine on Justin Langer's unceremonious exit as Australia's head coach

Former Australia captain Tim Paine believes that Justin Langer's exit as the team's head coach was handled extremely poorly by Cricket Australia (CA). The former opening batter resigned from his coaching position after only being awarded a six-month contract in February 2022 following the Ashes triumph.

Langer came on board the coaching staff in the aftermath of the infamous Sandpaper gate, where Darren Lehmann handed in his resignation.

He was tasked with rebuilding the Australian squad, which was without two senior players, Steve Smith and David Warner, in the mix.

While Australia had a rather fruitful period of time under Langer, which included the Ashes and the T20 World Cup 2021 triumph, the players had reservations about his 'intensity'.

While backing the players' claims of Langer being a little too 'intense', Paine was disappointed with the way the former opener was shown the door. Paine wrote in his autobiography 'The Paid Price':

"I watched the lead-up to this in my last year as captain, no issue consumed me like this one did. And nobody will stop me believing JL was very, very poorly treated. A man tasked with rebuilding Australian cricket’s reputation was hung out to dry."

Paine continued:

"To add to the insult, it had been dragged out. Time was wasted. I’ll never back down from my opinion that it was poorly handled, embarrassing and unprofessional. I think they knew he wouldn’t accept it and then they wouldn’t have to sack him. It was the easy way out."

Current T20I skipper Aaron Finch has mentioned in the past that Langer was asked to take a step back during the T20 World Cup 2021, allowing the players to express themselves and go on to win the tournament.

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"It was upsetting to see a man who cared so much treated like that" - Tim Paine and Justin Langer

Paine and Langer handled the team's resurrection in the red-ball format, where they were reeling the most. The duo had a rocky start following series defeats against Pakistan and India to begin their reign, but the side slowly found their rhythm once Smith and Warner rejoined the side.

The Aussies notched a mammoth series win over Pakistan and New Zealand in 2019 and went onto lose only a single Test in 2021. Paine and Langer's partnership came to an abrupt end following the former being accused of inappropriately texting a female co-worker, leading to his exit from the side altogether.

Reiterating that Langer should have been treated better by CA, the wicketkeeper said:

"It was upsetting to see a man who cared so much treated like that. It hurt him deeply. The bottom line in all of this is, whether he was kept on or not, he should have been treated better.”

Langer has not ventured into the coaching scene since his departure as Australia head coach.

Do you believe Justin Langer was mistreated by Cricket Australia? Let us know what you think.

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