MELBOURNE: Former Australia pacer Brett Lee has come in defence of current Test captain Time Paine after a "rookie" India scripted a historic win at the Gabba.
An injury-ravaged India on Tuesday beat Australia by three wickets in the final game on Tuesday to win the series 2-1 and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
"I think since he's taken over the captaincy he's shown real good leadership qualities," Lee told foxsports.com.au.
"And look, there's been a lot written about Tim Paine behind the stumps. He's grassed a few chances, but who hasn't? You look at all the keepers in history and I'm sure there would be plenty who had leaner periods behind the stumps.
Under Paine, Australia have competed in 23 Tests and have managed to win only 11 of them. Two Test series defeats at home against India make his record look worse.
Paine, who took over from Steve Smith in 2018 after the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, is copping criticism for not only the 1-2 defeat but also for his sloppy work behind the stumps.
"With the bat, you can't fault him. He goes along with Marnus Labuschagne as having one of the best techniques in the team. He stood up and took on the Indian players."
Lee said he does not find anything wrong with Paine captaincy style.
"His captaincy has been really good. As I said, in Sydney there were maybe a few other things he could have tried, but put yourself in that situation -- he's under the pump, he's had a few players go down as well, there's chances (gone begging) when they're trying to take those last five wickets," he said.
"(He's a) brilliant keeper, his batting has been outstanding, and his captaincy really sound." Paine, after the defeat on Tuesday, said he wants to continue as leader of the team since he has some "unfinished business" to settle.