“All I can answer to that one is that discussion hasn’t been had yet,” Hohns said. “He will obviously be a contender, but whether we go down that path or not depends on when that arises. Tim Paine hasn’t gone yet, put it that way. So we’ll worry about that in due course.”
IND vs Australia (2020): Cricket Australia’s Chief of Selectors Trevor Hohns refused to rule out a return to captaincy for Steve Smith if Tim Paine decides to step down Following the Aus vs Ind 2020 series. Paine was named as captain of this Australian Men’s Cricket Team later Smith was banned from all forms of cricket for 12 months after the notorious ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, in 2018.
Trevor Hohns was requested about the subject after he disclosed that Pat Cummins would function as Australia’s only vice-captain for the Test series against India. Hohns said that Steve Smith would-be rival’ to substitute Paine, but didn’t need to be drawn into the dialogue.36-year-old Tim Paine has indicated he would love to play in next summer’s Ashes series prior to retiring. However, a lot could happen between now and then, and also a bad series against India could be the end of Paine’s run in the side.
Steve Smith was also hit with a two-year captaincy ban that expired in March this year. However, with Paine doing an excellent job, Smith’s opportunity to be reappointed because the skipper is unlikely to arrive until the former retires.
Steve Smith and Tim Paine included in Test squad, although first-choice opener remains undecided
Steve Smith remains a key player for Australia and the 31-year-old is already captaining the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. He had been praised for his direction of their federal side before the contentious incident against South Africa saw him stripped of the captaincy, duo was named in Australia’s 17-man squad for next month’s Test series against India. While the issue of Steve Smith’s reappointment as captain was shelved, for now, the Australian selectors have other pressing choices to make.
The group is to announce the opening partner for David Warner from the series against India. Joe Burns was the opener last summer, but fought runs at the Sheffield Shield and may lose his place into the free-scoring Will Pucovski.
