'There’s no doubt he would like to do it' - Tim Paine on Steve Smith donning the captaincy hat again

Australia’s captain in the purest format of the game Tim Paine made a startling revelation regarding former Australian captain Steve Smith saying that Smith still harbors the dream of leading Australia again and is looking forward to the opportunities that might come his way. Till 2018, Smith was Australia’s captain across all three formats.

However, after he was found guilty in the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town in 2018, Smith was sacked as a leader and Cricket Australia (CA) had handed him a one-year ban from the game along with a two-year leadership ban. Though Smith’s leadership ban period had ended in March 2020, CA has shown no signs of reappointing the swashbuckling batsman in the leadership role.

There are strong rumours regarding the sacking of Tim Paine as Test captain after Australia lost against India in Australia twice in a row. Speaking about the same, Paine reckoned that the management is trying to develop more leaders in the squad and Steve Smith is definitely a name in their mind.

“There’s no doubt he would like to do it, I think, but we’ll just wait and see what happens in the next six to 12 months; one of the things we’re trying to do is develop more leaders in our team, and Steve Smith is certainly one of those,” Paine told SEN Radio.

Steve Smith opines on Pat Cummins’ captaincy

The current vice-captain of Australia’s Test team, Pat Cummins is also a prominent contender for getting promoted to the captain role. However, Smith isn’t pleased with the idea of Cummins leading the attack as he had raised quite a few eyebrows recently by giving a cold response to the seamer’s captaincy.

“I think being a fast bowler, it would be tough. But that’s not for me to really answer,” Smith said on SEN.

Smith had also not credited Cummins for his excellent leadership while leading New South Wales to victory over Victoria in a domestic game. Speaking about Cummins, Smith had said, “He was good. Pretty easy day, I think today. I don’t think there was too much to do. Not a tough day, but did good on his first day.”