Tim Paine walks tightrope with jabs not haymakers, writes Crash Craddock

There’s no nastiness about the way Tim Paine has played in this series but there was no way he was playing the diplomatic doormat, writes Robert Craddock.

Virat Kohli and Tim Paine getting up close with each other in Perth. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

• PETULANT: Tensions boil as Kohli sprays Paine

• CRASH: King Kohli conquers as catch divides fans

Tim Paine never promised to be a choir boy Test captain.

He even made the point of distancing himself from claims his team wanted to be “liked.’’

He just wanted his team to be respected and behave responsibly.

It has been the most delicate of tight rope walks. On one side he has been being tugged by the forces of political correctness that followed the ball-tampering scandal and the other side he was under pressure not to turn his team into the Aussie Altar Boy XI.

Virat Kohli and Tim Paine getting up close with each other in Perth. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Somehow he’s still standing on the tightrope, nicely balanced and it’s been the most subtle journey of his intriguing cricket career.

There’s no nastiness about the way Paine has played in this series but there was no way he was playing the diplomatic doormat.

His quips have been playful rather than personal, clever rather than crass, his punches deft rib rattlers rather than haymakers.

The embodiment of his plucky aggression was his exchange with Virat Kohli in the first session when the Indian captain moved in and appeared to stand in Paine’s running path as he was taking a single.

Crash Craddock is full of praise for Paine’s captaincy in Perth. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Darren Lehmann watched it from the commentary box and declared “if he got in my line and I’m running for a single, I’m running right through him.’’

It looked like a deliberate attempt to rattle Paine’s cage at a time when he looked cool and assured but Paine also played his part by appearing to veer towards Kohli.

“You are the one who lost it yesterday and you are trying to be cool today,’’ Paine said to Kolhi, following up with “keep your cool Virat.’’

Given the fact Paine was not even keeping for Tasmania 13 months ago, and he was under so much pressure to do the right thing, Paine could have been forgiven for keeping his hands behind his back when Kohli started his on-field pot-stirring.

But instead he has kept his gloves in the air and landed a couple of silky jabs.

Even before the match there was a hint of by-play when Paine was three minutes late for the toss and Kohli was waiting in the way Steve Waugh was famously left stranded by Sourav Ganguly in Test matches in India.

Paine is a remarkable player.

At no stage has he look flustered or rattled since taking over the captaincy when the team was in ruins after the ball tampering scandal.

Paine has dealt with the tough Kohli situation perfectly. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

When he was not out overnight on Friday he went along to watch a basketball game featuring the Sydney Kings and Perth Wild Cats when others might have retreated to their hotel room.

At times on tour he has brought his two young children with him and there is a sense of life balance and “cricket is not the end of the world’’ about his demeanour and the way he plays.

When Paine and Usman Khawaja survived the first session on Monday without losing a wicket the dressing room greeted them like returning war heroes when they went for lunch.

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It seemed extraordinary that Australia could go a session without losing a wicket on a deck so volatile that midway through Australia’s innings they had played and missed 42 times. In total, at that, there had been 131 air swings for the match.

It got to the stage where the play and miss was so common that it barely raised a gasp from the crowd yet forward defensive strokes were getting respectful applause.

But there was no sense that the deck was a shocker.

It was, in the eyes of many, just the type of contrary, hard to read surface the game has been craving.

It was as if the deck had spicy vindaloo for lunch because after the break there was batting carnage and the efforts of Australia’s nerveless captain seemed to shine more.

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