Steven Smith is certainly one of the bona fide greats of the modern game. His exploits wherever he has played is a testimony to that fact. Smith was the one and only reason Australia were able to share the last Ashes series in England in 2019. His brilliant hundred in the 2^nd innings against India on a Pune spinners paradise is among the great innings played by a visiting batsman. His career so far is marked with so many brilliant innings that it is almost impossible to pinpoint which one was his best so far. Such has been his impact that the moment he was withdrawn from the Australian team, they looked so vulnerable and devoid of any confidence.

It was sheer luck for the Australians that they did not play too many games during the time when Smith was banned because otherwise, they would have lost majority of those games. Now that Smith is back and performing, he has exuded confidence ahead of the series against India and there are infact murmurs about him being reinstated as captain. Let me analyse Steven Smith’s confidence and murmurs about captaincy.

Smith has expressed confidence ahead of the Indian series

There is a strange feeling around the cricket circles that the best way to contain and remove Steve Smith is by bowling short. Short and fast at his ribcage. Last year, Neil Wagner was able to achieve success against Steven Smith albeit at a lower level by bowling short pitched balls aimed at his ribs. It is another matter that Smith still ended the series with more than an average of 40 which ofcourse is pretty low by Smith’s standards but not enough to completely make him redundant.

On the otherhand, by spending all of their energy on Smith, the other Australian batsmen were able to pile up a gigantic score everytime they batted. However, in the recent Ashes, Smith showed that short balls do not really scare him. The volume of runs that he scored in that series against the ferocious pace of Jofra Archer and more than decent pace of Ben Stokes once and for all shut any talk of his weakness against short balls to rest.

Now, Smith wants more of the same in the series against India

“If teams are trying to get me out like that it’s probably a big benefit for the team because it takes a lot out of people’s bodies if you continually bowl short. I’ve faced a lot of short bowling in my life and I haven’t had too many stresses with it. I suppose we’ll just wait and see.”

Bowling short for long periods of time is a difficult job. Any fast bowler will vouch for the fact that they are much better off bowling a fuller length than bowl short. Bowling short increases pressure on the shoulder and on the back that results in major injuries that renders the bowler to the sidelines for more than just a few weeks.

India’s precarious situation

It really is a catch-22 situation for the Indian bowlers. What do they do? Do they concentrate on Smith knowing that he is the most vital wicket among the Australian line-up and bowl short to him? Do they expect that once Smith is out of the way, the other batsmen can be easily dealt with? These are some of the questions that the Indian team will have to ponder. Bowling short and fast to Smith, will take a heavy toll on the bowlers who are not among the fittest of the players. In the absence of Pandya, I do not expect the Indian captain to go in with 5 bowlers. It will be 4 bowlers only.

As such, the team cannot afford to lose one to injury in trying to bowl short and fast at Smith. As Smith has mentioned, this tactic will render the bowlers slightly ineffective against the other batsmen. Much depends on how the Indian team as a whole plan against Smith and the rest of the batsmen. It is better they use the current quarantine period to plan. One vital statistic is that Smith averages the best against India. His average against India is 84 and his second best is against England which is close to 20 points lower. This shows how dominant he has been against India. The Indians certainly has a lot to plan.

Growing voices to bring back Smith as the captain

We all know what happened in South Africa a couple of years ago when Smith, Warner and Bancroft were caught red-handed for ball tampering. Smith & Warner were subsequently banned for a year and as a result of that Smith lost his captaincy. Since his return earlier in the year, he has not been considered for captaincy. In the interim, Paine has done a decent enough job to still be the captain. Under Paine, Australia have once again become the number one team in the world and have also retained the Ashes in England. These are not mean feat. Even the likes of Michael Clarke and Steve Smith himself never retained or regained the Ashes in England.

Now, there are growing voices to bring back Smith as the captain and ease Paine out of the team. This despite the fact the Paine has done a fabulous job. Mark Taylor probably the best Australian captain over the last 30 years has opined

“I think the thing that will potentially go against him is how long Tim Paine will play for,” Taylor said. “If he’s still there at 37, 38, then it might be too late for Steve. Conversely, if in the next year or so Tim’s form [drops] or he gives it away, I’d like to think Steve would be considered.

The Australian selector, Trever Hohns, has said that there is every possibility that Smith will return as the captain in the near future.

This is not only unfair to Tim Paine but outright disrespectful to him. Afterall, he has performed admirably under the then prevailing situation and he must be given space and time to go out of his own and certainly not eased out.

Does Smith deserve to return as the captain?

Whether or not Tim Paine has done an incredible job as the captain is besides the point. The bigger question is does Smith deserve a second chance as captain? The answer is plain No. He was not only the captain when Bancroft tampered the ball but he was an active participant in the entire episode. It had emerged that Smith was well aware of Warner and Bancroft’s cunning plan and yet did not intervene to stop it. This makes him equally guilty of tampering.

Shane Warne, who could have been the greatest Australian captain since the end of the second world war was never made Australian test captain because of his off-field shenanigans, which wasn’t that serious, added to his on-field cheating just before the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Smith must also undergo similar fate because he cheated while he was the captain. Yes, everyone makes mistakes and they must be given a chance to return. This was accomplished after Smith was allowed to return as a batsman. The buck must stop there. He made a mistake, he was punished and he has returned as a batsman. That must be it.

Yes the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals did appoint Smith as the captain for 2020 but these franchises do not have any moral integrity. They only removed Smith in 2019 because of the global outrage. Otherwise, they would have happily carried on with Smith as the captain. This must not be considered the yardstick to bring back Smith as the Australian captain. Every captain must realise that if he cheats, he cannot never hope to be the captain again. Hopefully, better sense will prevail and the Australian board will look for a different candidate after Paine retires to captain Australia.