Paine brush aside Gavaskar’s remarks over captaincy stint

Tim Paine has refused to be drawn into a war of words with former India captain Sunil Gavaskar who said that the Australia skipper’s days at the helm are numbered as he let frustration get the better of him during the third drawn Test in Sydney.

Paine, however, said on Thursday that Gavaskar is entitled to his opinion and it won’t make an iota of a difference to his team.

“I am not going to get into it and get back and forth at Sunny Gavaskar and try and think I am going to win that. He is entitled to his opinion. It doesn’t affect us one iota. It is adding to the Test match which is great. So Sunny can keep saying what he wants to say. At the end of the day, I have absolutely nothing to say to that,” said Paine on the eve of the final Test at the Gabba.

Gavaskar had said after the last Test that Paine’s behaviour showed his frustration and that his bowling changes and field placements were not up to mark.

“It was unbefitting of a captain of a national team to be talking about something other than cricket...when you talk about something else, it shows your frustration. It shows you are not able to bear the fact that the opposition is putting up a fight,” Gavaskar had told media.

“At the end of the day, the Indians had the last laugh. R Ashwin had the last laugh for whatever Tim Paine was saying. I don’t know I am not an Australian selector, but his days as captain are numbered. If you allow the Indian team to bat 130-odd overs without getting wickets, this is a very good Australian attack. The bowling changes, the field placements, everything could have made a difference to the result.

“I won’t be surprised if there is a change in the Australian captaincy after the series is over. If you drop simple catches, Rishabh Pant got two edges, they were not difficult catches, the last one which he missed off Vihari was also which he could have left to the first slip. He was a little bit disturbed, his concentration was not thereafter that little episode with Ravichandran Ashwin,” Gavaskar had added.

The four-match series is currently tied at 1-1 with Australia winning the first Test in Adelaide while India winning the second in Melbourne.