‘Doesn’t help his case, no doubt’: Former skipper says resurgence of sandpapergate can hurt Smith’s captaincy chances

Ever since the sandpapergate resurfaced due to Cameron Bancroft's controversial interview, a lot of question are being asked about it. Be it regarding the future of Bancroft-- who was one of the three Australian players found guilty-- or the chances of Steve Smith becoming the captain once again, the chatter around the topic is on a constant rise.

The sandpapergate scandal took place in Capetown in 2018 when three Australian players, Bancroft, Steve Smith, and David Warner, were found guilty and later punished for ball-tampering during the Test series against South Africa. All three players served their suspension but only Smith and Warner managed to return to the Australian side as regular members.

Tim Paine took over the leadership during turmoil times but considering the poor success rate of Australia in Tests under him, there are calls for his replacement. While Smith is a name that keeps coming up in these conversations, many former cricketers believe that it's time to move on.

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Former Australia captain Mark Taylor has stated that the resurgence of the scandal could hurt Smith's chances of becoming Australia's captain again.

“It doesn’t help. No doubt about it, it doesn’t help his case, because he like I’m sure most people involved in the game would like this just to go away; which it won’t go away,” Mark Taylor, a staunch supporter of Steve Smith, said on Sports Sunday.

“There’s no doubt there’s a growing momentum around Steve Smith being a potential captain, no doubt about that.”

With Tim Paine expected to retire after the 2021-22 Ashes, the Australian think-tank is busily pondering potential captaincy candidates with the likes of Pat Cummins, Alex Carey, and Steve Smith among the choices.

Though Smith didn't carry out the action himself, he admitted to the knowledge of the act and received heavy criticism for failing to stop the illegal act as a captain.