‘He might get the captaincy’, Ian Chappell names the potential replacement of Tim Paine as Australian captain

Australia’s defeat against Indian in the just-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy has put Tim Paine’s captaincy under the scanner. His performance behind the wickets and tactics as a leader were severely criticized by many former Australian players.

Former skipper Ian Chappell feels that Steve Smith might get back the post if there is no other choice to replace Tim Paine.

Smith, who served a 12-month ban for his involvement in the 2018 Sandpapergate, seemed to be a front runner if Paine is to be replaced as Test skipper as a fallout of Test series loss to India.

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Smith's two-year leadership ban following the "sandpaper-gate" scandal in South Africa under his captaincy ended last year.

“Yeah sure, he might get the captaincy again but I think it's only going to be in the circumstances where there's not much other choice,” Chappell told 'Wide World of Sports'.

Chappell questioned why Smith is eligible to captain Australia again while David Warner has a lifetime leadership ban. He said Smith's ‘crime’ in the ball-tampering scandal was greater than that of Warner, his deputy at that time.

Smith was stripped of the captaincy and banned from leading Australia for two years while his deputy Warner was handed a lifelong leadership ban, for their roles in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

“Why aren't Smith and Warner in the same category? If Smith only gets a 12 (24) month ban on captaincy, why doesn't Warner only get that?” Chappell asked.

“Or if Warner gets a lifetime ban on captaincy, why doesn't Smith? Because Smith's crime in my eyes was greater than Warner's,” he added.

Television footage had shown Cameron Bancroft taking a yellow object out of his pocket while fielding in the post-lunch session and appearing to rub it on the ball. He was later charged with attempting to change the condition of the ball.

According to a Cricket Australia's investigation held in the aftermath of the incident, while Smith and Bancroft knew what they were getting into, it was Warner who had developed the “plan to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball”.

(With PTI Inputs)