‘Cheating is cheating’ – Ian Chappell speaks against Australia making Steve Smith the Test vice-captain

Batting legend Ian Chappell said that Australia shouldn’t have handed leadership duties to Steve Smith after the latter’s involvement in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town. The 32-year-old Smith became eligible to lead the Aussies earlier this year in March after he was banned for two years from taking any leadership responsibilities.

Ahead of the upcoming Ashes and in the aftermath of Tim Paine’s ‘sexting’ controversy, Smith was appointed as the national Test vice-captain. The right-hander is set to work under the captaincy of Pat Cummins, who has replaced the 36-year-old Paine at the helm.

Chappell was a tad agitated for the fact that different treatments were meted out to Smith and David Warner, who was also a part of the tampering saga. But while Smith has returned to leadership, Warner was barred from taking any captaincy roles anytime in the future.

The veteran said that Smith’s crime was a bigger one that that of Warner. Chappell put forth his opinions while speaking on 2GB’s Wide World of Sports radio on Saturday, November 27.

Ian Chappell lashes out at Cricket Australia

“For starters, I have a problem — why is Steve Smith looked upon as a different punishment to David Warner? In fact, if anything, I think Smith’s crime was greater. For a captain to say, ‘I don’t want to know’ when cheating is involved, is not correct.

“A captain’s got to know, he’s got to find out and he’s got to do something about it. Either Smith has a two-year ban from captaincy and so does Warner, or Smith has a life ban and so does Warner,” Chappell said.

Chappell was also of the opinion that in Paine’s case, CA, itself, should have left him out of the eleven after taking away his captaincy. After the recent incident, Paine stepped down as the Australian Test skipper and also took an indefinite break from cricket.

“Cheating is cheating, whether it’s big cheating or little cheating, it’s still cheating in my book. If I’d have cheated as an Australian captain — I mean I made a lot of mistakes but I didn’t cheat. And if I had cheated, and if I had done what Tim Paine did, I would have expected Cricket Australia to not ask me to resign, they would have taken the job away from me and made sure I didn’t continue to play as a player,” he added.