Tim Paine is in an unenviable position. He has to paper over the cracks left by the bans on Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft and also win the trust of an Australian audience still aghast over the ball-tampering controversy.
“We play Test cricket to win, there is no doubt about that and clearly we have realised that we needed to do some work in some areas for gaining the respect of our country. It is as high a priority as winning,” the Australian captain told the media here on Wednesday, ahead of the first Test.
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With Australia revealing it’s playing eleven and benching Mitchell Marsh, Paine said: “Mitch Marsh probably hasn't been as consistent as he would like. Most likely at some stage in this series we will need him. So we are taking the opportunity at the moment to send him back to play a Shield game.”
Expressing faith in his bowlers, Paine said: “We have obviously got a lot of confidence in Nathan Lyon bowling a lot of overs. Probably the fact all our three quicks go in really fresh, has given us confidence at the start of the series.”
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Paine, who picked Steve Waugh’s brains, revealed: “I spoke to Steve because I love the way he went about captaining Australia. I just wanted to have him as a sounding board and he has been really good to me.”
The tussle against India could well be cat-and-mouse game and the host skipper said: “They are going to see at times if they can attack Nathan and we have to bowl our quicks a bit more. It is going to be a real chess match in that regard.”
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