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Australian legend Steve Waugh isn't too impressed with Tim Paine's captaincy and has urged him to be more instinctive and think outside the box.
Waugh felt Australia didn't have a Plan B or C when a depleted India side defeated them 2-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year.
Tim Paine's captaincy has come under the scanner ever since Australia's Test series defeat against India. However, the wicketkeeper-batsman has received backing from his coach and selectors and is set to continue as skipper going into the Ashes.
World Cup-winning captain Steve Waugh, though, had advice for Tim Paine and company, asking them to trust their instincts in the middle instead of just trying out set plans.
"You’re planning so much these days, and have all these set plans. (But) when it doesn’t work out, you mightn’t have that Plan B or Plan C, or the one that’s a bit out of the box and left-field thinking. That was possibly needed by Australia in a few of the matches they should’ve won (against India). Maybe we relied too much on the quartet of amazing bowlers and sometimes those guys get tired," Waugh said on the Road To The Ashes podcast.
The 55-year-old further added:
"When (Plan A) doesn’t work you sort of forget about those intuitive instinctive moments that sometimes you need to win a Test match – and potentially we’ve probably missed out on that over the last 12 months.”
Australia, who played with their full-strength side, failed to bowl out India in the last two Tests on a fifth-day track in Sydney and Brisbane.
Tim Paine's next assignment is the Ashes series, and even though the 36-year-old has received backing from various quarters, many feel that he is walking a tight rope at the moment.
"Tim Paine is outstanding"- Justin Langer
Australia head coach Justin Langer recently made it clear there was no doubt regarding who will lead Australia in the upcoming Ashes at home in November.
However, in a cryptic statement, Langer hinted that Pat Cummins could emerge as captain in the future.
"Let me just knock this on the head straight away. Tim Paine’s not not going to be captain for the whole Ashes, so don’t worry about it. I know you just backed him up there, I know you’ve just backed him up there; it’s great speculation for the public and media. Tim Paine is outstanding. The only thing I would say about Pat Cummins is Imran Khan’s now the president of Pakistan, so he’s the president and he captained Pakistan, so who knows what will happen,” Langer told the Road to the Ashes podcast in April.
Australia were set to play a three-match Test series against South Africa in February following their defeat against India. However, the tour was postponed due to COVID-19 fears in the rainbow nation.
It will be interesting to see how the Aussies bounce back in the Ashes, given the considerable gap between their Test assignments.
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