The time is right to make Pat Cummins captain – Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne

Tim Paine has resigned from Australian cricket team on Friday after media revelations had been investigated and cleared over sexually explicit text messages sent to a female former colleague four years ago.

Former Australian cricketer Shane Warne weighted on the fact that it is the right time for Pat Cummins to take responsibilities from Tim Paine as the skipper of the Test team and add Josh Inglis as the next wicket-keeper batter.

Tim Paine has resigned from the Test captaincy on Friday after media revelations had been investigated and cleared over sexually explicit text messages that he sent to a female former colleague four years ago.

The 28 year old Australian vice-captain Pat Cummins has picked up 134 wickets for Australia in 32 Test matches for Australia since his debut in 2011.

“For me, the time is right to make Pat Cummins captain, something I thought even before the events of Friday unfolded,”

Warne wrote in Australia’s The Daily Telegraph on Sunday.

“The poster boy, respected and loved the world over, Pat Cummins should now be named captain, and either Matt Wade, Josh Inglis or Alex Carey should get their chance to come in and play Paine’s role in the Test team.

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“Inglis gets my vote. He’s got silky smooth hands behind the stumps, he’s a 360 degree player with the bat and coming off three first class hundreds last season for Western Australia. He’s a great team man who I saw first hand at the London Spirit this year. He’s 26. Get him in.”

Shane Warne, who has previously criticised Tim Paine’s poor captaincy, praised his leadership role after he was appointed as a captain in place of Steve Smith in the aftermath of the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in 2018.

“It was sad to see what happened last Friday on so many levels and the circumstances in which Tim was forced to stand down. I really feel for him, what he’s going through, and what his family is going through,”

Warne added.

“I’m not judging him on this incident. Just because Tim is in the public eye doesn’t mean he won’t make a mistake. Sportspersons are human, they have feelings. Let’s stop the judgement. It’s not our place to do that.”