WATCH | Tim Paine successfully appeals alone twice and Twitter went crazy

WATCH | Tim Paine successfully appeals alone twice and Twitter went crazy

SportsCafe Desk

By SportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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In the social media era, where fans have numerous ways of criticizing players, Tim Paine is no exception. However, after getting rid of Moeen Ali earlier today, when another one of Paine's successful lone appeals saw Stuart Broad returning to the pavilion for which Twitter heaped praise on him.

Paine performed brilliantly behind the stumps in the ongoing Ashes series answering all his critics, who had questioned his selection in the side. Given that Paine was playing second fiddle to Matthew Wade at Tasmania, his inclusion didn't go down well with the cricket experts.

However, the player who was under scrutiny even before the start of the series finally stole the limelight on the fourth day of the first Ashes Test, when his successful appeals got Australia wickets of Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad. Earlier in the game, Paine's lone appeal for an Ali stumping was referred to the TV umpire, who after seeing numerous replays finally decided that no part of the foot had been behind the line and adjudged him out.

As if it wasn't enough for him to prove his worth behind the stump, the 32-year-old was involved in another controversial dismissal of the day, when he appealed for Stuart Broad’s wicket in the 71st over of England’s second innings. Mitchell Starc had offered a full delivery outside the off-stump and Broad, who was playing at 2, tried defending it and getting a slight edge in the process. Paine caught the delivery and claimed it before realizing that he was the only one from the Australian side to appeal for it, as even Starc was unsure about it and started smiling after watching Paine’s confident appeal.

Paine, who is playing only the fifth Test of his career, then convinced skipper Steve Smith to go for the review. While in normal replays, it was hard to judge the incident, HotSpot revealed a tiny mark that was followed by a spike in the UltraEdge as well. Broad couldn’t believe when ground umpire signalled him to return to the pavilion.

Here is how Twitter reacted to Paine's performance

He surely can do that

We too

Well every other wicket keeper is better than Wade *cough*

Tim Paine - Controversial yet great Test selection

Reason revealed

Explanation offered

He will surely win if the results are reviewed

Wait. What?

True that

New selection criteria Aussie Wicket-Keeper

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