Had poor game as leader, ended up looking like 'fool', admits Tim Paine

Australia Test skipper Tim Paine on Tuesday admitted that he had a poor Pink Test as a leader and he even went on to apologise for his actions on the field.

Paine has been dealing with severe criticism for his behaviour behind the stumps. He was also fined for swearing at the umpire and complaining about DRS. On the final day of the third Test, he had a verbal duel with Ravichandran Ashwin. To make the matters worse, Paine also ended up dropping three catches as the third Test ended as a draw.

"I want to apologise for the way I went about things yesterday. I'm someone who prides myself on the way I lead this team and yesterday was a poor reflection of that. I let the pressure of the game get to me. It affected my mood and my performance. Initially, I reflected purely on my wicketkeeping. Last night I reflected on the whole game," said Paine during a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

"I've had a really poor game as a leader. I'm a captain who enjoys the game, and wants to play, yesterday I fell short of my expectations and our team's standards. I'm human. I want to apologise for the mistakes I made yesterday. It's certainly not a reflection of the way I want to lead this team. We've set high standards over the last few months and I'm bitterly disappointed," he added.

Talking about his duel with on-field umpire Paul Wilson regarding DRS, Paine replied: "My mood throughout the whole Test match was a bit off. The way I spoke to the umpires was unacceptable. I've got to cop that on the chin. It's certainly not a reflection of how I want to do it going forward. I fell short of my own standards and expectations. I'm bitterly disappointed with that."

Paine was seen chirping quite a bit on the final day of the Pink Test, but to make the matters worse, he ended up dropping three catches and this is the most he has dropped since coming into the Australian team for the 2017/18 Ashes series.

"You behave as I did in this Test match and then perform like that, you open yourself up to criticism. So I was fully expecting it and as I said this morning and yesterday, I'm happy to cop that on the chin. I realised the mistakes I made yesterday, both from a leadership and wicket-keeping point of view, I have to cop that criticism now and move on," said Paine.

"For me, the most important thing is that I understand where I went wrong and how I can improve and I had some pretty honest conversations with JL and our staff last night and moved on to how I can improve for the Gabba. I spoke to him really quickly after the game yesterday. As I said to him, I ended up looking the fool, didn't I? You open your mouth and drop the catch, we had a bit of a laugh about that," he added.

Talking about his sledging to Ravichandran Ashwin, Paine replied: "I think the relations between the two teams have been great, there's a healthy respect, it's very competitive. When it's all said and done, the way the spirit of this series has been played, 99 per cent of the time it's been excellent. Everything was fine with Ashwin."

India and Australia will now lock horns in the fourth and final Test at the Gabba, Brisbane, beginning January 15.