Australian cricket coach Justin Langer opened up about the whole sexting scandal that led to Tim Paine resigning from Test captaincy and then taking an indefinite break from cricket. While a certain section is doubtful of his return to cricket, coach Langer is positive.

However, Langer was not impressed with how the saga was approached and Paine was demonised. Paine fell prey to his own trap after a historic sexting incident from 2017 came to the fore. While some believed that he should resign from cricket, others wanted him to continue for Australia, retaining the captaincy eventually.

In his corner, Paine finds Langer. “We live in a world of perfectionism, don’t we? We’re a very judgmental society,” Langer said.

“As I said in my very first press conference when I was asked about Steve Smith and David Warner and Cameron Bancroft (after the ball-tampering saga) – there’s not one person who is asking questions here, or who is on the camera here, or who is listening to this or watching who hasn’t made a mistake in their life.

“There’s not a single person. Our captain, one of the best, made a mistake and is paying a heavy price for it.

“What I see, I continually see in this job and see in the society we live in – it’s brutal. You learn your lessons, but we live in an unforgiving society. And that’s a shame.”

Talking about Paine’s return to international cricket, Langer said: “He loves cricket. He absolutely loves cricket. And he’s 37. He is a fit as any athlete, certainly in our squad. He looks after himself so well. He’s very focused. So who knows.”

“His No. 1 priority at the moment is family as you can imagine, and that’s how it should be. I’m not sure we’ve seen the end of him. But we’ll wait and see. That’ll be his decision.”

“He’s obviously shattered with what’s happened. Because he’s been such an exemplary figure in Australian cricket for the last four years. His life has changed, but you’d have to ask him how he’s going.

“It was important to see him…It was a no-brainer for me to go and see him,” Langer said.

In Paine’s place, pacer Pat Cummins was named Australia Test captain.