Paine hopes to keep ODI captaincy

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Sydney: Australian skipper Tim Paine, who is under pressure in the wake of his poor batting record after being appointed as the captain, has said that he would try his best to continue to remain at his position. The 33-year-old further stated that even if he is stripped off the captaincy, he would continue to focus on his Test cricket and try to do well in the format. "I am completely comfortable either way. I obviously would like to do it ... if I continue to do it, great, but if not, it's a real opportunity for me to focus on Test cricket and do that as well as I can," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Paine, as saying. In July, the wicket-keeper batsman had led the Australian side in the five-match ODI series against England which they had lost by 0-5. Reflecting on the series, Paine said that the English side played a good brand of cricket and showed complete dominance in all the matches. He, however, assured that their side would make a strong comeback in the 2019 World Cup. "England were playing an unbelievable brand of cricket at the time. Everything was going really well for them. They were too good for us," Paine said. "Coming out of that tour, we found out about a number of our players. As I said, a lot of our guys will come back into that team for the World Cup. Australia will be taking a very competitive team to that World Cup, no doubt," he added. Paine was appointed ODI captain following the suspension of former skipper Steve Smith for his involvement in the massive ball-tampering scandal that took place during the third Test match against South Africa at New Lands in March. — Agencies