Australian cricket team head coach Justin Langer has quashed Steve Smith’s hopes of regaining the captaincy in any format of the game any time soon by saying “there is no captaincy position available.”

Langer’s comments came hours after Smith has expressed his keenness to lead Australia once again if the opportunity comes in the future. He was removed as Australia captain after his involvement in the Sandpaper Gate incident in the Cape Town Test against South Africa in March 2018.

Smith had told News Corp, “I've certainly had a lot of time to think about it and I guess now I've got to a point where if the opportunity did come up again, I would be keen. If it was what Cricket Australia wanted and it was what was best for the team at the time, it's certainly something I would be interested in now, that's for sure.”

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However, Smith has now completed his two-year leadership ban and is eligible to captain Australia again, but Langer has insisted that there is no chance of him returning to the captaincy any time soon.

Notably, there were calls for a change in the Test captaincy after Australia lost the home Test series to India earlier this year but Langer said Australia has two very good captains in Tim Paine and Aaron Finch for the limited-overs cricket and they don’t have any post for Smith right now.

Langer told the ABC: “We have two very good captains and two important competitions coming up -- The Ashes and a T20 World Cup. Our future looks good. Despite the media chatter, there is no captaincy position available.”

Noteworthy, the reports suggested that Smith’s name will be discussed during succession planning at an upcoming Cricket Australia board meeting but “some directors have reservations about his candidacy” with Pat Cummins looms as Australia’s next Test captain.

(With ANI Inputs)