Test Captain for Australia, Tim Paine has said that it was an honour to be given the responsibility of leading his country at the highest level and it felt greater being accepted by the teammates around him and get voted by them for the role. 

Paine took over after Cricket Australia banned both Steve Smith and David Warner after their proven involvement in the ball-tampering incident earlier this year and he revealed that if not for the confidence shown by his peers in the form of being elected in the voting process for the captaincy position, he would never have got the job. 

Paine talked about the process, which actually involved the top players holding an initial ballot to identify leaders within the extended group, with the top six vote winners presenting to a final panel.

Speaking on the matter, Paine told cricket.com.au, "I came across the captaincy in not ideal circumstances so to go back into the pool and to be voted back up by my peers was great," adding, "It means a lot to all three of us that we've been voted in by our peers. It was really important to have the player buy-in. Everyone went through that process, myself included. I think it was good for the players to be able to voice their opinion and have a say in who leads them."

"It was also great for the guys who had been nominated by the players to go through the process and be interviewed. It's something that we don't normally do and it was a good experience."

The wicketkeeper-batsman also talked about what if he wasn't chosen at all at the first place and said, "Yeah I'd imagine so. It probably wouldn’t have been my call. We took it very seriously and the players had their say, then there was a process after that as well."

"It was not done to tick boxes or anything like that. It was to make sure we had the right people leading this team going forward." he signed off. 

Paine will now be leading Australia during their upcoming 2-Test series against Pakistan in United Arab Emirates starting October 7.