Tim Paine, the Aussie captain, has a chance to redeem himself from the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy defeat, the first-ever for Australia at home, and Mohammad Kaif, former Indian cricketer, believes that Paine, 36, will go to any extent to do that, including sledging.
The reason why Kaif, who played 138 international games for India, thinks this way is because Paine has nothing to do with the IPL and hence he need not worry about his connections with the Indian team or its members.
"All the players who play in the IPL, whether it is (Aaron) Finch, (David) Warner, or (Pat) Cummins, none of them are going to fight now. Tim Paine does not play (IPL), he knows that he is not going to come to India, he does not have anything to do with the IPL, so he can confront the Indians," said the man who scored 3177 international runs for India.
Kaif, 40, also feels that it is the last chance for Paine to prove himself with the bat as well, otherwise, he might just be playing his last international series.
"He is not able to score runs with the bat. He just got the captaincy because Smith and Warner had the problem at the time. They were banned, so he was made the captain in compulsion. Now that they have come back, if he doesn't score, then his place in the XI will also be difficult. So, it will be better if he concentrates on batting and keeping only this time," Kaif added.
In 19 Tests as captain, Paine has won 10 and lost six. Hence, he is not really in a bad position. However, it is his batting that has been a real issue. Since his comeback to the Aussie side, Paine has scored just 1043 runs in 42 innings, from 27 matches, at an average of just 30, which, by modern Australian standards, is below par.
The first Test, a day/night affair, begins on 17th December in Adelaide.
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