Australian spinner Nathan Lyon has backed Tim Paine’s captaincy and said he has done an incredible job as Australia’s Test captain.
Paine took over as the captain of the Australian Test team after the captain then Steve Smith was handed a ban of one year from cricket and sacked as captain for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in March 2018.
Lyon Says Paine Absolutely Incredible For Australian Team
Smith, who completed his two years ban from captaincy recently, is eligible to become captain again. With Steve Smith’s leadership ban over, the discussion on captaincy might arise.
However Australian spinner Nathan Lyon has expressed his opinion that the wicket-keeper was absolutely incredible for the Australian team and the way he was leading the team was unbelievable.
“Tim Paine has been absolutely incredible for the Australian cricket team,” he told reporters in a video conference on Tuesday.
“The way he’s gone out and led this team, it’s been unbelievable, to be honest … I truly believe that he’s growing each and every day, he seems to be getting better as captain.”
“He Took Captaincy In The Hardest Time In Australian Cricket”
Lyon said Paine took the challenge of captaincy when the Australian team was in the hardest time and did an amazing job.
“If you looked around that change-room at that time, I think Tim Paine really got up in my eyes, really stood up and could take that challenge on,” he added.
“He took the captaincy in the hardest time in Australian cricket and he’s done an amazing job.”
Under Paine’s captaincy, Australia lost home series for the first time against India where it was defeated 1-2 in the 4 match series in January 2019.
But the bright spot of his young captaincy was when the team retained last year’s Ashes in September in England. Paine himself has said he would back Smith as captain after his captaincy ban ends.
