When Bonnie met Pant: A Paineful story of love

Chandigarh, January 1

Bonnie Paine is getting a taste of Indian love, her Instagram page adding a follower with each tick of the clock — by Tuesday night India time, the number of her followers had passed 28,000.

Bonnie is the wife of Australian captain Tim Paine. On Tuesday, she posted a photo of herself with Rishabh Pant, the Indian wicketkeeper, and her two children, with the caption: “Best Babysitter @ RishabhPant”.

There’s history to it. Her husband is also a wicketkeeper. Wicketkeepers are the ringleaders when it comes to sledging. So Paine and Pant have made an inseparable couple, both having gone hard at each other from behind the stumps. 

After Pant was dropped from the ODI team and MS Dhoni brought in, Paine got a chance to sledge Pant. This is what he had to say when Pant came out to bat in Melbourne: “Tell you what, big MS (Dhoni) is back in the One-day squad too, we might get him (Pant) down to the Hurricanes, this bloke, we need a batter.” Paine was offering Pant a wicketkeeper/batsman’s job at Hobart Hurricanes in Australia’s Big Bag T20 league!

“Fancy that Pant? Extend your little Aussie holiday,” he told Pant. “Beautiful town Hobart too. Get you a nice apartment on the waterfront. Have him over for dinner. Can you babysit? I take the wife to the movies one night, you can look after the kids?”

So, when today Pant met Bonnie at a function at the Australian Prime Minister’s house in Sydney, they got a photograph with the kids, and Bonnie certified him as ‘best babysitter’. 

Tassie captain

Paine was brought in to save Australian cricket following the Sandpapergate controversy in March, when captain Steve Smith and vice-caption David Warner were banned for their role in ball-tampering in South Africa. He was an unlikely saviour — two years ago he was on the verge of retiring after being dropped by Tasmania. He even took up an offer to work with Kookaburra, the cricket equipment manufacturer, in Melbourne. Then he was brought back in the Tasmanian team, and then the Australian team. 

He was unscathed in Sandpapergate controversy, and was the natural choice to lead the team after Smith and Warner were banned. Australians are generally a relaxed people and the people of Tasmania — an island south of Victoria — are considered very easygoing. So Paine was the man Cricket Australia chose as leader in an effort to rid the team of the “toxic, win-at-all-costs culture” that was blamed for Sandpapergate.

During the current series, off the field there have been some unpleasant moments — Australian fans making racist chants and being evicted from the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and cricketer-commentator Kerry O’Keefe making comments that seem racist/xenophobic. But on the field, it has been hard cricket, with fun, non-toxic verbal exchanges. 

Paine’s banter is biting, but fun. For instance, he told Murali Vijay about Kohli: ‘I know he’s (Kohli) your captain but you can’t seriously like him as a bloke!’

Paine is not in Smith’s class as a batsman, but as a nice guy playing hard cricket, trying to pick his team out of a “toxic” scenario, he’s the right choice. No wonder Bonnie Paine is getting tons of online love from Indian fans. — TNS