Steve Waugh urges Tim Paine needs to have a plan B or C as captain and be instinctive

Australia lost the home Test series against India for the second time in row.

Tim Paine | Getty

Former Australia captain Steve Waugh has urged current skipper Tim Paine to rely more on instincts and intuitions during Test matches as he believes those calls can help them win Test matches.

Tim Paine-led Australia has been under some talks since they lost the second successive home Test series against India. Despite taking a 1-0 lead and Team India being battered and bruised, Australia went on to lose the series 2-1. 

Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh said that during the series against India, Tim Paine-led side relied on the plans made in dressing rooms and when that didn’t work they were left out thinking. 

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"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," Steve Waugh said on the Road To The Ashes podcast.

Waugh said that Australia relied too much on the bowlers against India. 

"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," he said. 

Steve Waugh further said that when plans don’t instinctive calls on the field should be taken that could help them win matches and Australia probably missed out on that. 

"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," he said. 

However, ever since Australia lost the Test series against Indian, Tim Paine captaincy has come under the scanner but he got the backing from his coach and selectors. His next assignment would be Ashes 2021-22, where he will be captaining Australia in a five-Test series. 

(Road to the Ashes podcast inputs) 

 
 

By Ankitjit Singh - 13 May, 2021

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