Steve Smith is not an ideal candidate to lead Australia again: Ian Chappell

Former Australian captain Ian Chappell feels Steve Smith should not lead Australia again as the five-time World Champions are looking for possible candidates to lead the national team ahead of a busy 2021-22 schedule. Currently, Tim Paine is leading the test side, while Aaron Finch is the leader for the white-ball formats.

Incumbent Test skipper Paine has backed Smith to return to the leadership role in the future after the infamous Sandpaper saga in the year 2018. The wicketkeeper-batter also added that he will support Smith fully if he gets the captaincy opportunity again.

Chappell has shared his opinion on the same and feels Smith is not the right person leading Australia again. In an exclusive interview with the Wide World Of Sports, Chappell has advised the management to not go back to Smith.

“I think it’s time to move on. To me, if you go back to Smith, you’re going backwards. It’s time to look ahead, not in the rear-vision mirror,” he explained.

Pat Cummins should not have a bad taste by the Sandpaper-Gate fiasco: Ian Chappell

The 77-year-old also had his say on Cameron Bancroft’s recent comments, where he shockingly stated that Australia’s bowlers were aware of the ball-tampering event in South Africa. The former captain was not surprised by the same, as he feels there might be more to the infamous saga than what Bancroft had shared.

“It’s probably something that’s been on Bancroft’s chest for a while, and he’s tried to get it off his chest as diplomatically as he possibly could. I’m not surprised, because Bancroft’s one of only three that got pinged for what happened, and most people would realise that there were more than three people involved,” he said.

Chappell feels Bancroft’s statement should not disturb Cummins as he is the unanimous choice to lead Australia in the near future. He feels that Cummins should remain unfazed and feels the responsibility of Sandpaper-Gate should solely fall on to Smith.

“If people start jumping up and down about Pat Cummins captaining Australia if he knew, well the answer is pretty clear because it falls back on Smith. He’s the bloke who should have stopped it. The captain’s got the overall say and power to stop it, and he didn’t. I don’t think it should count against Pat Cummins, even if they decide the bowlers did know. Smith is the bloke who should have made sure the whole thing never started,” Chappell concluded.

Both Cummins and Smith are included for the white-ball tour to West Indies in the month of July.