Tim Paine contemplates to hang his boots after 2019-20 Aussie summer
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After leading the Australian resurgence in times of extreme difficulty, Tim Paine is thinking of bowing out of the game at the end of the Aussie summer. Paine, in the pre-series presser, has touched upon topics like his captaincy as well as his ambition to see Australia beating India in India.
Tim Paine was never a natural. He was a misfit among some of the finest cricketers of the generation, dividing opinion about his place in the squad. But everything changed for good as Smith was stood down as captain for the Cape Town Test and Paine was handed interim captaincy charge of the team. 14 Tests later, Paine has emerged as an inspirational leader of men and alongside Justin Langer, he was at the forefront of leading Australia's cultural change.
If one thing that has always got to bring him under pressure, it was the discussion about his captaincy. However, he has never shied away from answering them and as Australia set to take on Pakistan to start their summer of cricket, Paine was clear about what plans he has for the future.
"It might be [my last summer]. I'm not too sure. I haven't looked at it that way at the moment. But as I've said many a time. I'm enjoying doing it. I feel good physically. I feel good mentally, so while that continues and I'm scoring enough runs and keeping well enough then I'd like to continue. But I know when you get to my age that can change really quickly. I'm not going to look too far ahead. I'm really looking forward to this summer. Beyond that I haven't looked too far," Paine said in the press conference, reported PTI.
Paine had made his debut back in 2010 against Pakistan, alongside Steve Smith, and the career had been in two different directions for the longest time. Smith has gone on to touch dizzyling heights with his Bradmansque batting while Paine is yet to score a century in Test cricket. However, what he holds now, is one of most difficult roles as an Australian sportsman, and he understands the importance of it pretty well.
"I think years ago it probably would have bothered me, I think years ago it probably would have but now it actually doesn't bother me one bit. I'm motivated from within. I know what I want to do and what I want to achieve and I think when you're the Australian captain and the Australian keeper, they're two of the most critiqued roles in Australian sport and at the moment I have to hold them both.
"I know I'm going to be in the crosshairs for people all the time but at the same time I also get a lot of ... positive feedback and a lot of people telling me how well I'm doing as well. That's just part of the job at times you're going to get critiqued and you're not going to like it and other times you're going to get praised when you think you've done something that's pretty normal.
"It's just about keeping nice and consistent and nice and level and it certainly doesn't add any extra motivation. I think there's always talk when an Australian captain gets older, there's always talk of who is the next one, when is he going to stop. I think that's natural and that's always going to be the case."
Justin Langer recently talked about knocking India off on home soil in 2022 as the ultimate goal - a place where Australia hadn't been successful that often. The series win in 2002-03 is still the best performance by the Aussie team on Indian soil, and Paine too agreed that success in India would give the team the ultimate validation.
"It's a conversation we touched on lightly last night, what is this Test team's goal. This current group. And obviously at the moment, and speaking even really briefly with a lot of the players this morning. Our goal is to get back to that No.1 ranking and we want to win that Test Championship. To do that we're going to have to be good enough to win in India and we're going to have to be good enough to beat everyone, everywhere. It's the only way we're going to get to where we want to get to. It's an exciting period and I'm looking forward to being part of the start of that and there is no end-point at the moment," the Tasmania cricketer added.
