Australian national selector calls criticism of Tim Paine "totally unfair"

Australian national selector Trevor Hohns has slammed the criticism directed towards Australia Test captain Tim Paine, calling it "totally unfair".

Australia lost a home series against India for the second time in two years under the leadership of Tim Paine, who has been criticsed for his tactics, sledging and also wicketkeeping.

Tim Paine apologised for his over-the-top sledging after the Sydney Test and was among the better Australian batters in the series. However, that didn't stop cricket legends like Sunil Gavaskar and Kevin Pietersen from asking for his removal as the Australian skipper.

On Wednesday, Australian selectors named Tim Paine the skipper for the South Africa series and called him a 'terrific leader' whose position in the side was not even discussed.

"Tim's leadership in our mind was never in question. We did not spend one minute on Tim's leadership during our selection meeting. He has been a terrific leader of this Australian team through some pretty trying circumstances," said Trevor Hohns in a press conference.

"I must say too, if you don't mind – some of the criticism he has had to endure in our view has been pretty wide of the mark. I think Tim has been unfairly criticised in this instance. Sure, we are all disappointed with the performance of the team and losing to India. I think the criticism of Tim Paine has been totally unfair," added Hohns.

Pat Cummins to take over captaincy in Tim Paine's absence

Australian captain Tim Paine and vice-captain Pat Cummins

At 37, Tim Paine may not be a long-term solution to Australia's Test captaincy and there has been a lot of speculation about the future captain. While Pat Cummins remains the vice-captain of the team, the Australian squad for South Africa includes wicketkeeper Alex Carey and Travis Head – two men touted as future leaders.

Trevor Hohns believes that Pat Cummins is quite capable of leading the national side if Tim Paine is unavailable.

"With relation to Pat Cummins, he is the vice-captain... we don't have any doubt that, in certain circumstances, Pat could take over the reins if anything was to happen to Tim Paine in the short-term," said Hohns.

"We are always looking for leaders and trying them when the opportunity arises to possibly give somebody some experience. Over the last week or two, there have been various names thrown up. We have to canvas all of those options and try to come up with a group of leaders that can take Australian cricket forward," the 67-year-old leg-spinner added.

Australia will play three Tests in South Africa in March. Only a convincing win will provide them with a glimmer of hope of playing the World Test Championship Final at Lord's in June.