Tim Paine Reveals Steve Smith Still Harbors Hopes Of Becoming The Captain Again

Australian captain Tim Paine has revealed that former captain Steve Smith is still hoping for an opportunity to lead his nation again in all the formats. Smith was suspended for 12 month period in 2018 after being involved in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa and Cricket Australia also banned him from taking the captaincy role for two years. The sentence came to an end last year and now he could be in contention for the role again.

With Australia’s back-to-back defeats in the home test series against India, a lot of talks have been going on to change the captain from Tim Paine. Pat Cummins who is the vice-captain of the team should be the front runner for the job if Australia wants a change in captain and the chances of it look bleak with the Ashes coming up later this year.

“We’re Trying To do Is Develop More Leaders In Our Team” – Tim Paine

Tim Paine brought up the concept of developing more leaders in the team and included the name of steve smith in it. He told about Smith’s name for the captaincy will be up and around, and we have to wait until a decision on it is made. Steve Smith has maintained a good captaincy record until he was suspended and his responsibility with the bat will be an added advantage for the Australian team.

“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,” Tim Paine told SEN Radio.

Steve Smith Responds To Pat Cummins Captaincy

Steve Smith reckoned that Cummins being a fast bowler would be tough to handle the captaincy role and wasn’t sure about him being a permanent captain for the future. He concluded that Pat Cummins who captained his state team in the 50 over format did a good job for the first day.

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

“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.”