Tim Paine Reveals the Reason of Calling Rishabh Pant a ‘Babysitter’

Australia’s Test captain Tim Paine has revealed the reason for calling Rishabh Pant a ‘babysitter’. The incident took place between India and Australia at MCG where the fielders were bored. To cheer them up, Paine came up with the ‘babysitter’ sledge against Pant.

However, it was friendly banter between them as Rishabh Pant had become a babysitter after the game. Later he clicked a picture with his kids and wife during their official meet with the Australian PM. He also revealed that it was nothing serious and a way to distract him from the game.

Tim Paine on the sledge

“Geez, we were bored. I could not get a wicket. Well, Rick (Ponting) knows him quite well — one, he’s very very good, but two, we found out early in that series that discovered early in the series that sledging him was a waste of time. It just didn’t bother him, but what we found was that you could get a real lapse of concentration out of him so we went a bit that way,” Paine revealed during Big Bash League commentary.

“So I just tried to put him off and talk rubbish to try and get him involved because he was likely to play a poor shot at the time. But he’s a seriously talented player,” he further added.

India and Australia both are considered two top teams in the world cricket. They last met in an ODI during the ICC World Cup in July in England. Result went for India’s side but when Australia last time visited India, they had some other plans.

In the five-match ODI series, India won the first two. However, it was Aaron Finch-led Australia who bounced back beautifully and clinched the series by 3-2. Currently, Australia have toured to India for a three-match ODI series. The first game of the series will take place in Mumbai on January 14.