'His language and sledging was back to old days' - Michael Vaughan feels Tim Paine crossed the line in Sydney Test

On the day when the Australian team failed to take any more than five wickets in the total of 131 overs, the on-field behaviour has also come under scrutiny. And, surprisingly, the criticism has been targeted towards the skipper who is called “the man behind the cultural change” in Australian cricket. 

Former England captain Michael Vaughan who never spared an opportunity to give his opinion on cricket wasted no time in addressing the matter. He took to Twitter talking about the verbals which Paine tried to engage into during a tough day of cricket. 

Sledging today was back to the old days, says Micheal Vaughan 

During the course of the day, the stump mic caught Tim Paine sledging the Indian batsmen several times, especially Ravi Ashwin. Vaughan called this behaviour of Paine very poor who called Ashwin di**head as well. Former England skipper said that the wicketkeeper crossed the line of negativity for the first time, pointing out that it brought back memories of the pre-sandpaper gate Australian side. 

“Let’s be honest the captain of Australia since sandpaper gate has led this team with great distinction, attitude & never once has he crossed the line of negativity in my eyes, but today his language behind the stumps & sledging today was back to the old days !! Very very poor !!” Michael Vaughan tweeted.

Let’s be honest the captain of Australia since sandpaper gate has led this team with great distinction,attitude & never once has he crossed the line of negativity in my eyes,but today his language behind the stumps & sledging today was back to the old days !! Very very poor !!

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 11, 2021

This is not the first time that the sledging by the Tasmanian has come to the forefront. During the 2018-19 series between the two sides, Tim Paine was heard often sledging the Indian players. However, as per the Aussie norms of sledging, “if there’s no abuse, it’s a friendly banter.”

Tim Paine’s day to forget

The stump mic, on Monday, had caught the Australian captain calling Ashwin a ‘d***head.’ The Indian captain Virat Kohli had once in a chat said, ‘I love playing against the Aussies because it is quite hard to keep them calm.’ Well, honestly, calmness is least of your problems when you are dropping catches in the final day of the Test match.  

The interactions on a cricket field can get nasty at times, but that once again brings the question, where is that line? Well, maybe the Australian media won’t call it a ‘friendly banter’ if the word ‘d***head’ is involved. Maybe, for now, we can only say that the Indians on this tour are taking a lot from the Australians, be it from their crowds or their national captain.