Usman Khawaja has called for Steve Smith to once again captain Australia when Tim Paine's time a skipper ends.<\/p>\n
Smith was stripped of Australia's Test captaincy following the South African sandpaper scandal.<\/p>\n
Khawaja believed that as long as smith wanted the captaincy again, it should go to him.<\/p>\n
"If Steve Smith wants to captain Australia, I think he should captain Australia," Khawaja said.<\/p>\n
"He's our number one batsman, he's done it before, he's paid for his mistakes, there's no reason why he shouldn't be in line for the captaincy if wants to do it."<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Discussion around who should lead Australia into the next era has been rife with many arguing Aussie spearhead Pat Cummins should be handed the duties.<\/p>\n
Selectors have their work cut out ahead of them, with the likes of Smith, Cummins and Carey all being bandied about.<\/p>\n
"With relation to Pat Cummins, yes he is the vice-captain and we don't have any doubt that in certain circumstances, Pat could certainly take over the reins if anything were to happen to Tim Paine in the short-term," Australian selector Trevor Hohns said earlier this year.<\/p>\n
"We're always looking for leaders and trying, where and when the opportunity arises, to possible give somebody some experience.s a massive headscratcher for selectors, with Steve Smith, Pat Cummins and Alex Carey all possibilities.<\/p>\n
"And over the last week or two there have been various names thrown up and let's face it, we've got to canvas all of those options and try to come up with a leader or a group of leaders \u2013 which is what we've tried to do over the last few years \u2013 to take Australian cricket forward."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"