Former Australia captain David Warner feels that Steve Smith will be Australia’s captain for the upcoming Champions Trophy. According to Warner, Smith has the experience of leading the side before and will be the perfect candidate to lead the team in a big tournament.
Australia have been looking for a stand-in captain to lead their side in the absence of Pat Cummins, who has been ruled out of the entire tournament due to an ankle injury. Travis Head is another option who is in the selectors’ minds but Smith carries more experience in terms of captaincy.
David Warner confirms Steve Smith to be Australia’s captain
While speaking to Sports Yaari, David Warner named Steve Smith to be Australia’s captain for the Champions Trophy Warner feels that Smith is already in the captaincy role for Tests in the absence of Pat Cummins and will take over the role in ODIs too.
“I think Steve Smith leads the team. You’ve got him there at the moment for Tests. So, with some of the experience on his head, I think Steve Smith will probably take that,” Warner reckoned.
Steve Smith led Australia in the Test series against Sri Lanka. Under his leadership, Australia won the series 2-0 which was a big achievement for ambitions of performing well in the subcontinent.
Australia will now play a two-match ODI series in Sri Lanka which is also seen as the preparation for the Champions Trophy. They have named a squad without a captain but Smith is the frontrunner to take over that role in Cummins’ absence.
David Warner confirms Steve Smith will lead Australia & says even without Cummins their chances of winning Champions Trophy are high. Agree? #SportsYaari #Exclusive pic.twitter.com/0Zgcchf7wd
— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) February 9, 2025
“Our chances are still very high” – David Warner
Further speaking in the same video, David Warner termed Australia as the favorites despite missing out on a few big names. The former Australian opener feels that Australia has enough depth to fulfill the shoes of these big names.
“I think our chances are still very high, you know, still after winning that World Cup (2023). Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Marsh are a big miss but we have got quality players who can fill those shoes without a doubt,” Warner noted.
“The other thing is the wickets prepared in Pakistan as well. So, there are so many different variations and variables that are going to play a role in that,” he added.
Australia are the winners of the last ICC 50-overs tournament which was the ODI World Cup 2023. They defeated the home favorites India to lift their sixth World Cup title and create history.
Smith Smith vs Travis Head
Steve Smith has led Australia in 59 ODIs so far in which the team won 31 and lost 25. He has scored 5662 runs in 165 ODIs at an average of 43.55 and a strike rate of 87.18 with 12 hundreds and 34 fifties.
On the other hand, Travis Head hasn’t led Australia in the ODI format so far. Although, he has led the team in T20Is. Head has been a top performer for Australia across formats and it remains to be seen who becomes Australia’s captain in Cummins’ absence.