Australia's Test Captaincy is Still Open, says Shane Warne

Legendary spinner from Australia, Shane Warne has admitted that the captaincy and vice-captaincy spots are still up for grabs despite head coach Justin Langer backing the incumbent Tim Paine.

Meanwhile, Paine stepped in as the temporary skipper in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal. However, Cricket Australia gave him the full-time leadership after Steve Smith got a 12-month suspension and made ineligible to hold a leadership role in Australian cricket for two years.

While Paine is in line to lead Australia in Pakistan, Shane Warne feels Paine should not be in the side only because of leadership. Instead, he feels the best in the playing XI should be given the captaincy.

“The Australian way is always to pick your best team,” Warne said. “There is a lot of talk about that should Tim Paine be in the side? He is the captain at the moment. But we, as Australians, should always pick our best team and then pick your captain and vice-captain from that. I don’t think we should just make a captain and then fit a side around him,” he added.

Shane Warne further admitted that leadership spots are still open. The legendary cricketer feels if Tim Paine is the best option in the best Australia team, then only he can be the leader.

“I think the captain and vice-captain should still be up for grabs. I want to see us pick the best side. If Tim Paine is in the best side and he is the best guy to be captain, then make him captain,” Warne added.

Justin Langer backs Tim Paine as captain

Langer will tackle his first Test assignment since replacing Darren Lehmann as the head coach. He endorsed Paine’s leadership qualities saying that he can lead the side by example. However, this comes as contradictory to what Shane Warne noted regarding the captaincy spot of Australia.

“He carries himself well,” Langer said. “He’s got so many of the strong leadership attributes that I respect – he leads by example, he’s a very caring person, he’s very well prepared both personally and strategically from a captain’s point of view.

“They’re all really strong attributes from the leaders I’ve known,” he concluded.