Steve Smith could replace Aaron Finch as skipper should injury keep him out of second T20 against India

Steve Smith remains a chance at captaining Australia again should Aaron Finch be unavailable – but it remains a contentious issue for selectors.

Steve Smith could make a shock return as skipper should Aaron Finch not pass fit for the next T20 against India. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Selectors are still anguishing over the future of Steve Smith, as the biggest question in Australian cricket burst onto their radar on Saturday.

The panel was forced to consider alternative plans for who might captain the team in game two of the series on Sunday at the SCG, should Aaron Finch fail to recover from a leg injury.

Pat Cummins is Finch’s vice-captain in the white ball arena – but the big fast bowler is out resting before the rigours of the Test summer and it was Matthew Wade who was on Saturday night considered the early favourite to get the nod if Finch was rubbed out.

If Smith is overlooked as the next cab off the rank after Finch and Cummins, it poses significant questions about what his leadership future holds.

Until now, Smith’s absence from official leadership positions once his captaincy ban ended back in March this year has not raised eyebrows, because of how entrenched Finch, Tim Paine and their deputy Cummins all are in their posts.

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Aaron Finch.

Steve Smith.

However, if both Finch and Cummins are unavailable, the first real insight could now come into how selectors really feel about Smith as a future skipper.

It is significant that it was Wade who was nominated as the temporary vice-captain – and not Smith – when selectors needed to look outside of the official leadership positions for the opening Twenty20 international in Canberra with Cummins rested.

Instilling Smith as a caretaker captain for one of two Twenty20 games would be a relatively soft way for selectors to test the water with the Australian public, because they wouldn’t be locked into anything long term.

Particularly at a time when Smith otherwise looks back to normal and in the same domineering batting form that has defined his career as arguably Australia’s greatest batting giant since Bradman.

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Smith is still a figure in the dressing room players look to.

On Wednesday in Canberra he was given the honour of initiating Cameron Green into international cricket, and Tim Paine and Finch have both conceded they use their predecessor as a sounding board.

But if Smith is considered to be behind Wade – one year his senior – in the pecking order for official leadership, it casts a degree of doubt over whether Smith will be in the frame to be given the Test captaincy when Paine retires.

Selectors might argue that overlooking Smith for a one or two game stint as T20 captain bears no relevance to what decision they will make when ultimately tasked with finding a permanent replacement for Paine or Finch.

But it would seem the dilemma over whether or not Smith can ever be identified as Australian captain again following the ball tampering saga is something selectors are still very much wrestling with.

Wade is a fine State captain and leader in his own right and a worthy choice if Finch is out.

But if selectors were entirely comfortable with the notion of Smith captaining again, it’s hard to see why there would be any hesitation in him filling in for a one-off T20, given his standing in the team and wealth of experience skippering at international level.

Even if scans on Saturday afternoon clear Finch and he takes his normal place as skipper on Sunday, the injury dilemma has given an interesting first insight into why Smith is still Australian cricket’s most complex conundrum.