Video: Tim Paine and a list of his funny sledges

Back in March 2018 when the Australian team was in turmoil, Tim Paine who was not even in the picture till the start of the 2017-18 summer, emerged as the leader. He became Australia’s captain and took the bullets head-on. The team wasn’t doing well. Yet, he just moved on and kept taking positives out […]
 By Sahil Jain Dec 28, 2019, 09:29 IST
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Video: Tim Paine and a list of his funny sledges

Back in March 2018 when the Australian team was in turmoil, Tim Paine who was not even in the picture till the start of the 2017-18 summer, emerged as the leader. He became Australia’s captain and took the bullets head-on. The team wasn’t doing well. Yet, he just moved on and kept taking positives out from what were flashes of brilliance.

Paine’s keeping was tidy and batting was stoic. He never made big scores but did manage to get some decent scores batting with the tail. However, his captaincy grew as he became experienced and played a lot more matches. Paine even got a lot more relaxed and was enjoying himself.

And that’s when the sly, cheeky and funny Tim Paine came out. It all started with the India series. Yes, Australian wicket-keepers have been chirpy and always have something to say. Paine was never like that. He did encourage the bowlers but what came out were funny, cheeky sledges at the opposition.

From time to time, he came up with some absolute jaffas (sledges). The latest one was in the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand. Thus, here is a compilation of most of those sly, witty and funny sledges from Paine.

 

Video: Tim Paine and a list of his funny sledges

‘You baby-sit?’

It was exactly a year ago since this incident took place. India were in a commanding position in the Boxing Day Test after they took a 292-run lead. However, they lost their first five wickets quickly in the second innings. Rishabh Pant walked out to bat at No. 7.

Nathan Lyon was bowling the 26th over of India’s second innings and that’s when Paine decided to get cheeky. MS Dhoni was back as India’s keeper for the ODI series and Paine used that as reference. He offered Pant a place in the Hobart Hurricanes squad and also a flat in Hobart. The Aussie skipper asked Pant if he baby-sits so that he could take his wife out for dinner. All this was in good humour as Paine tried to sledge Pant. India’s wicket-keeper batsman also tried sledging back when it was Paine’s turn to bat and it was a nice little banter that lit up the series.

 

‘You seriously cannot like Virat Kohli as a bloke’

Pant’s babysitting banter went viral but that was in the third Test. There was quite a bit of chatter in the second Test in Perth as well. Paine and Kohli were at each other since the start of the Test match. While there was no swearing, there wasn’t anything funny about it.

However, there was one funny dig Paine took at Kohli. When Murali Vijay was batting on day four, the Australian captain was caught on the stump mic saying to the Indian opener, “Murali, I know he’s your captain but you cannot seriously like him as a bloke.”

 

Paine vows to support Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma was in and out of the Indian Test side on the tour to Australia. He played the first Test before he missed the second one in Perth due to injury. However, he returned to the XI for the Boxing Day Test at the MCG. Mayank Agarwal’s fine fifty on debut, Cheteshwar Pujara’s ton and Kohli’s half-century put India in a strong position. Rohit joined Ajinkya Rahane in the middle and carried the innings forward.

They were motoring along nicely and Rohit was on 13 in the 139th over of the innings. That’s when Paine tried to tempt Rohit to hit a six. Paine said that he is a little confused between whom to support in the IPL but if the Mumbaikar hit a six, he’d definitely go with Mumbai Indians. “It’s a bit of a toss-up between Royals and Indians for me. But if Rohit hits a six now, I’m changing to Mumbai,” Paine was caught saying on the stump mic.

The banter continued as Paine had a conversation with Aaron Finch who was at short-leg. He asked if Finch has played for every IPL franchise to which the latter replied except Bangalore and Paine said, “maybe Virat doesn’t like you (Finch).”

 

‘Smells very nice’

After the series against India in the 2018-19 home summer, Paine was back with his witty sledges in the series against Pakistan. The Aussie wicket-keeper tried to get under the skin of Pakistan wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan who was picked ahead of the axed skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed.

On the first day of the first Test, Pakistan were reeling at 94/5 and Rizwan was at the crease. Nathan Lyon had picked up a wicket and was bowling well. He was in his fifth over and Paine had a nice conversation with Marnus Labuschagne who was fielding at short-leg.

“Sarfaraz would have already hit him (Lyon) four. Sweep shot, bang, four,” Paine was caught saying before making another comment, “Smells good though, smell’s very nice.”

 

‘He knows the bloke in the truck’

Ross Taylor survived a close LBW shout on the second day of the second Test against Australia at the MCG. James Pattinson hit him on the pad and Taylor was adjudged out LBW. However, the New Zealand No. 4 decided to take matters upstairs as he reviewed the call. It turned out to be a good review as ball tracking showed that the ball was missing the stumps. Paine took a witty dig at Taylor in the following over.

“That’s twice I’ve seen him dead out plum and not given. I saw Broady (Stuart Broad) hitting him in the pad in New Zealand; it was absolutely hitting middle stump and it had missing leg. He knows the bloke in the truck,” Paine said. Taylor joined in the fun and said he actually hit the one in New Zealand and that’s why it wasn’t out. But Paine didn’t think so.

 

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