Former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh believes that Steve Smith has “paid his penance” enough for his role in the 'Sandpapergate' incident and now he should be handed the team's captaincy, in Tests at least after Tim Paine, given his ability both as batsman and captain.
Smith was removed from captaincy due to his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in 2018, though, he is now eligible to captain Australia again after serving his suspension, but was overlooked in favor of Matthew Wade during the recent T20I match against India.
He is widely regarded as a modern-day batting great thanks to his miraculous consistency with the bat over the years, and even in the recent white-ball series, the right-hander proved his mettle leading to many fans and cricketers to call Cricket Australia to reinstate Smith as captain again.
Well now, Waugh has backed Smith to be rewarded with the captaincy once again, saying the 31-year-old has a great cricketing brain and his past captaincy experience would be beneficial for Australia.
Smith had captained Australia in 34 Tests, 51 ODIs, and 8 T20Is between 2015 and 2018 and former cricketer said one of the best players of the modern era is a potent leader and deserves the role again.
Waugh said on Fox Sports’ Heavy Roller Podcast: “I would have made Steve Smith captain. He is one of the best players in the team, so he is always going to be picked in the team. Plus he has captained Australia for a number of years. He’s got a great cricket brain and I think he is a leader, so why not?”
On the sandpaper scandal, he opined: “I know a lot of people say why he should captain again? But hang on the crime has been paid for as minor as I thought it was. He’s paid his penance there, so he gets back to the captain. I think he is a pretty good captain.”
Meanwhile, Australian spin legend Shane Warne doesn’t agree with Waugh’s thought, saying Smith’s time as Australia captain is over now and wants him to focus on scoring runs for his country.
Warne further explained, “I wouldn’t (make him captain), I think Steve Smith has had his time. I would go with someone else as captain. Steve Smith, we want to bat and bat. I think we just let him bat and play. His time has been. It has got nothing to do with the issues in South Africa for me. I just think it is time for someone else.”
(With PTI Inputs)
