Steven Smith has to go through a process before he can regain captaincy, says Justin Langer

Justin Langer, Australia’s head coach has not ruled out the possibility of Steven Smith regaining captaincy in the future but stated that there were a few processes he needs to get through in order to regain captaincy. This subject came into question after Matthew Wade was made the captain in the second T20I against India. […]
 
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Steven Smith has to go through a process before he can regain captaincy, says Justin Langer

Justin Langer, Australia’s head coach has not ruled out the possibility of Steven Smith regaining captaincy in the future but stated that there were a few processes he needs to get through in order to regain captaincy.

This subject came into question after Matthew Wade was made the captain in the second T20I against India. Aaron Finch had been ruled out of the match due to a glute injury.

“Of course, we talked about a number of things,” said Justin Langer. “We’ve got so many options. Steve Smith has done a brilliant job in the past. There’s probably a bit of a process we need to go through until he becomes captain again. We’ll go through that.”

Steven Smith was involved in a ball-tempering incident in 2018 in a test series against South Africa. David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were among the other players to be banned. When the ban was announced, Steven Smith was given a 24-month leadership ban, which expired in March this year, which makes him a candidate for captaincy once again.

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Steven Smith has to go through a process before he can regain captaincy, says Justin Langer

“When the English crowd gave him a standing ovation at The Oval last year – talk about earning respect … he’s doing all the right things to show leadership without a title at the moment,” added Justin Langer.

Justin Langer out of options for the last T20I

Justin Langer has been short of personnel in the T20I series against India so far. David Warner had been ruled out of the T20 series after he picked a groin injury in the second ODI match against the same opponents. Aaron Finch has suffered an injury, Josh Hazelwood has a bad back, Mitchell Starc is unavailable due to personal reasons. Ashton Agar was ruled out just hours before the first T20I due to calf strain.

These injuries have forced Justin Langer to bring in additional players in the second warm-up match against India under the lights in Sydney rather than sending them to Adelaide to prepare for the opening test match which begins on December 17.

“We’re having a close look at that,” Justin Langer said. “The best practice is centre-wicket practice and no doubt the case to play a pink ball game against India under lights is a very tempting preparation for a few of your players. We’ve got six injuries now, which is really unusual. We’ll obviously review it. That’s one of the challenges moving forward when guys are playing all the tours (and have) different sorts of preparations,” added Justin Langer.