Steve Waugh wants Tim Paine to be instinctive and think outside the box

Ever since Australia lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to India, there has been a continuous debate in Australian cricket as to whether Tim Paine should continue as the Australian skipper or the Kangaroos should hand over their reigns to some other deserving candidate. While some experts believed that Australia should give their leadership responsibilities back to Steve Smith or maybe Pat Cummins, Australian coach Justin Langer and selectors backed Paine and decided to continue with him for the upcoming Ashes.

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Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh seems unimpressed with Paine's captaincy and said that he needs to think out of the box, adding that Australia lacked Plan B or C against India. Waugh wants Paine to back his instincts rather than just trying out set plans.

"You’re planning so much these days, and have all these set plans. (But) when it doesn’t work out, you mightn’t have that Plan B or Plan C, or the one that’s a bit out of the box and left-field thinking. That was possibly needed by Australia in a few of the matches they should’ve won (against India). Maybe we relied too much on the quartet of amazing bowlers and sometimes those guys get tired," Waugh said on the Road To The Ashes podcast.

The upcoming Ashes against England will be a make or break situation for Australia and Tim Paine. If Australia doesn't perform well, Paine's leadership will be under massive threat. 

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Paine received the backing of his coach Justin Langer who said that there are no doubts about Paine leading Australia in the Ashes. However, he hinted that Pat Cummins could be a probable candidate to lead Australia in the future.

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