Mark Taylor Believes Sandpaper Gate Will Affect Steve Smith's Bid for Captaincy

1. Mark Taylor Believes Sandpaper Gate Will Affect Steve Smith's Bid for Captaincy Former Australia captain Mark Taylor said that the infamous ball-tampering scandal in 2018 “won’t go away” ever and it will definitely affect Steve Smith’s chances of regaining the Test captaincy as well. Smith, who was earlier sacked as captain and suspended for a year for his role also alongside David Warner and Bancroft. However, after that incident, Tim Paine was handed over the reins in the longer format whereas Aaron Finch has been leading the team in the limited-overs cricket as well. Meanwhile, Steve Smith has recently expressed his desire to captain the team again. And, Test skipper Tim Paine has backed the decision as well. Image Source by twitter

2. On the other hand, in recent times, Cameron Bancroft made headlines by commenting that the Australian bowlers knew about the plan to use a sandpaper on the ball as well during the Cape Town Test against South Africa and he referred to it as was “self- explanatory.” “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,” Taylor told ‘Sports Sunday’. “There’s no doubt there’s a growing momentum around Steve Smith being a potential captain, no doubt about that.” Image Source by twitter However, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and spinner Nathan Lyon, who were all featured in the team during the test, recently released a joint statement, where they stated that they had no idea about this incident. Meanwhile, Cricket Australia has also shared that they will reinvestigate it if there is anyone who has more knowledge about this. And, Taylor, too, has shared his views on it.

3. “The bleeding obvious to me is they didn’t know that it had been doctored. You only have to read what they said during the week. If I could just read it out: ‘We did not know a foreign substance was taken on to the field to alter the condition of the ball’. And as they said, the two umpires in the game did not change the ball. So there was an attempt to change the condition of the ball but they didn’t get to do it. The umpire said, ‘That ball’s still fine, let’s get on with it’. So they did not know,” he concluded. Follow Cricadium Stats, Latest Cricket News, Live Cricket Score,Fantasy Tips and Today Match Prediction Stay updated Indian cricket team with all the cricketing roster, records, history & action.