Smith captained Australia to a 419-run win in second Test over West Indies.
Notably, both Smith and Warner along with Cameron Bancroft were central characters in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal that happened during the Cape Town Test match in South Africa. Inquiry into the incident suggested that David Warner had pressured Cameron Bancroft into using sandpaper to change the condition of the ball to get it to reverse swing.
Smith, the captain of Australia on that tour, didn’t intervene despite having knowledge of the same and he and Warner were banned from all international cricket for one year, while Bancroft got a nine-month ban.
However, Warner was also banned from having any leadership role with the Australian team for life, meaning that he couldn’t become captain or vice-captain of the side in any format. This became more convoluted when Steve Smith was named the vice-captain of the Australian Test team when Pat Cummins took over from Tim Paine.
Warner had recently appealed to Cricket Australia to revoke this leadership ban but withdrew the application when the panel constituted to hear his appeal wanted a public investigation, instead of a private one.
Steve Smith recently captained the Australian team in the second Test against West Indies in Adelaide and won the match by 419 runs, insisting Warner’s original punishment was unjust.
"From my point of view, banning someone for life from leadership is just fundamentally wrong. David served his time like I did. For us, we know he's a leader around the group, and on and off the field he's doing a tremendous job. It's been a difficult one for him, it's been a difficult week.
David has said he's done and dusted (with the review) and wants to get on with it. He's got our full support. Hopefully, he can have a really big series for us against South Africa with the bat,” Smith was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
Smith conceded the ongoing saga has been "more of a distraction for Davey" than for the rest of the team, insisting the batter has got the "full support of everyone in the team". He also called Warner a once-in-a-generation player.
"Davey's a once-in-a-generation player, he's arguably the best-ever opener for Australia. The way he's able to put pressure on bowlers from the outset helps everyone down the order as well. He's been an incredible player for a long period of time, his record suggests that. There's no reason why he can't have a big series for us coming this week as well. He's batting nicely.
He hasn't had a great deal of luck lately either, it seems like every time he gets an inside edge, it goes onto the stumps. A lot of the time when you're scoring runs you need some luck,” added Smith.
The 36-year-old southpaw has made 7919 runs in 98 Tests with 24 centuries and a best of 335*. In 141 ODIs, Warner has 6007 runs with 19 centuries and a best of 179, while in 99 T20Is, he has 2894 runs with one century and 24 fifties.