With less than a month left in the start of the home Ashes series, wicketkeeper-batter Tim Paine has stepped down from Australia’s Test captaincy role after the emergence of explicit messages that he sent to a female co-worker four years ago.

“Today, I'm announcing my decision to stand down as the captain of the Australian men's test team. It's an incredibly difficult decision, but the right one for me, my family, and cricket,” Paine said in a press conference in Hobart on Friday.

Tim Paine speaking after confirming he'd stand down as the Australian Men's Test captain. He will be available for the Ashes. pic.twitter.com/PdwPIvfHXl

— Chloe-Amanda Bailey (@ChloeAmandaB) November 19, 2021

"As a background on my decision, nearly four years ago, I was involved in a text exchange with a then-colleague. At the time, the exchange was the subject of a thorough CA Integrity Unit investigation, throughout which I fully participated in and openly participated in. That investigation and a Cricket Tasmania HR investigation at the same time found that there had been no breach of the Cricket Australia Code of Conduct.”

Tim Paine has announced his resignation as Australian Men's Test captain.

Read more https://t.co/BFpHQXWJav pic.twitter.com/RzySzb9nbM

— ICC (@ICC) November 19, 2021

Paine had sent these messages back in 2017 when he wasn’t part of Australia’s Test side. After the issue had emerged, Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania had conducted a joint investigation into the matter and found no breach of their code of conduct policies.

In 2018, the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa had rocked the whole cricket world and led to three of their star players Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft facing severe bans from international cricket for their involvements.

The Tim Paine saga is another reminder to sporting bodies that keeping a scandal or an issue of this nature on the hush-hush never makes it go away. It only makes it much worse and more sinister when it inevitably surfaces

— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) November 19, 2021

After getting the clean chit from both bodies, Paine not only made a comeback to the Australian Test team after seven long years but was bestowed with the responsibility of leading the side and restoring their image, after the infamous ‘Sandpaper Gate’.

Why Quit Now?

'My actions in 2017 do not meet the standard of an Australian cricket captain, or the wider community' - Tim Painehttps://t.co/uGbGiCigyg pic.twitter.com/nEwzDaVIze

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) November 19, 2021

Many might wonder when this whole episode was buried in the past, then why did he decide to quit now? Well.. Paine took this step because the conversations that were private until now were going to be made public.

Tim Paine has send explicit image of himself along with a string of lewd messages to the Co-worker in 2017. (Source - Herald Sun) pic.twitter.com/so9mCXQlHR

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 19, 2021

Addressing the same, he said: “However, I recently became aware that this private text exchange was going to become public. On reflection, my actions in 2017 do not meet the standard of an Australian cricket captain, or the wider community. I'm deeply sorry for the hurt and pain that I have caused to my wife, my family, and to the other party. I'm sorry for any damage that this does to the reputation of our sport.”

Mixed Reaction In India

© Twitter Sony Sports India

While the whole world was shocked with his sudden resignation, the fans in India had mixed feelings. While some expressed frustration for digging up old graves, others took a cheeky dig at the outgoing skipper of the Australian cricket team.

Throughout his playing career, Paine has always been someone who likes to chirp from behind the wickets, for some of which he even had to publicly apologise. When India toured Australia in 2018, wicket-keeper RIshabh Pant and Paine were involved in quite a few verbal banter.

Paine had famously asked Pant if he knew how to “babysit” as he wanted to take his wife out for a movie and needed to look after his kids.

Thank God Pant did not accept Paine’s offer . Now we know what he was up to actually pic.twitter.com/WNVN6cKZxA

— Ritvik (@ritvikindeed) November 19, 2021

Despite being new to international cricket, Pant didn’t back off and gave him a taste of his own words when he came to bat, referring to him as “temporary captain”. Who knew Pant’s comments that he said as a joke would age this well? The fans certainly are crediting Pant for predicting the future so aptly.

Thank God Pant did not accept Paine’s offer . Now we know what he was up to actually pic.twitter.com/WNVN6cKZxA

— Ritvik (@ritvikindeed) November 19, 2021

So very disappointed in TP. His social media wholesomeness with Pant and his (ie Paine's) children in 2019.... brings to mind a line from the show Castle: "Why is it always the family values guys who get caught with their pants down?"

— Aditya Mani Jha (@aditya_mani_jha) November 19, 2021

Do you babysit,he asked Pant. I’ll take the wife to the movies one night. Paine was overcompensating since day 1. Also, Pant was a visionary when he called him ‘temporary captain’. #bantergotreal #Paine #Australia #TimPaine #RishabhPant Who’s your daddy now?

— This isn’t your backyard. (@SahilK3004) November 19, 2021

Remember Rishabh Pant once called Paine a 'Temporary captain'.
Australian test team = Steve Smith

— Himanshu (@Himanshu_3108) November 19, 2021

So now we REALLY know why Tim Paine wanted Rishabh Pant to babysit...

— Todd Davey (@ToddJDavey) November 19, 2021

This was the reason Paine wanted Pant to babysit?

— Udit (@udit_buch) November 19, 2021

Tim Paine is stepped down as captain and will be dropped from the team. He will not require Rishabh Pant to do babysitting of his baby, he is free he can do it his own.

— Sunil The Cricketer (@1sInto2s) November 19, 2021

The fans strongly believe that they don’t see him making it to Australia’s starting line-up for the opening Test against England. Taking to the micro-blogging site in larger numbers, they joked that the 36-year-old cricketer wouldn't need Pant to babysit his kids anymore as he would have enough to do that job himself.

The Cricket Australia (CA) was completely aware of this whole issue for all these years but didn’t take any necessary actions. In this day and age of social media and interconnected globalised world, you can’t keep these things hidden for long.

As much as Paine was guilty of sending these messages, their governing body should also be criticised equally for not taking any action.

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