Tim Paine on Thursday (May 13) hinted that he will relinquish Australia’s Test captaincy if his team manages to win the upcoming Ashes at home and backed former skipper Steve Smith to succeed him.
Paine has come under the scanner after Australia’s 2-1 Test series loss to the injury-marred Indian side earlier this season.
He was handed over the leadership duties in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town in 2018, when then skipper Smith and his deputy David Warner were suspended for a year for their involvement in the infamous incident.
"Obviously I don't make that decision but the time I played with Steve as captain he was excellent. Certainly tactically he is as good as you get," Paine was quoted as saying by news.com.au.
"He's probably a bit like me when I was at the start of my captaincy journey in Tasmania - he was thrown into a very big role at a very, very young age and he probably wasn't quite ready for it.
"But by the time I came in he was growing into that role and getting better and better. Then obviously (in) South Africa events happened and he's not doing it anymore. But yeah I would support him getting that job again," he added.
Paine is willing to step down from captaincy if Australia can beat England in the Ashes 2021-22.
"At least another six Tests," he said, referring to the solitary Test against Afghanistan and the five-Test Ashes at home.
"If I feel like the time is right and we've beaten the Poms 5-0, what a way to go out. But it might be a tight series and we might be chasing 300 on the last day and I'm 100 not out and hit the winning runs - and then I might go again."
Reflecting on the India series, which put him under tremendous pressure as captain, Paine said: "...they're very good at niggling you and trying to distract you with stuff that doesn't really matter and there were times in that series where we fell for that."
"The classic example was when they said they weren't going to the Gabba so we didn't know where we were going. They're very good at creating these sideshows and we took our eye off the ball," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
