Steve Smith said after Australia’s win in Indore that his time as captain was done. However, with Pat Cummins set to stay home to be with his ill mother, Smith will take the reins once again.
Pat Cummins will not return to India and Steve Smith will captain the Australian side in the fourth and final Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad.
Cricket Australia confirmed on Monday that Cummins, who returned home after the second Test to be with his terminally ill mother, would stay in Sydney.
Smith successfully led the side in the third match at Indore and received high praise for his captaincy of the three spin bowlers.
Australia is a chance of squaring the series after securing just the third Test win by a visiting side in the past decade at Indore.
Adam Gilchrist stood in for an injured Ricky Ponting and led Australia to its last Border Gavaskar series win in 2004. Ponting returned for the fourth Test but the side was beaten on a raging turner in Mumbai.
Cummins has an excellent record as captain since assuming the job from Tim Paine, leading the side to a 4-0 Ashes victory in his first summer and a historic win over Pakistan in 2022. Australia drew with Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka but were unbeaten at home against the West Indies and South Africa in the home summer.
Smith, who lost the captaincy for his role in the sandpaper gate controversy, has no interest in returning to the job full time.
“My time is done,” he said. “It’s Pat’s team now. I’ve obviously been able to stand in this week, obviously in tough circumstances with Patty going home. Our thoughts are still with him back home as well,” he said.
“Look, India is a part of the world I love captaining. It’s a game of chess, every ball means something. it’s good to just move people and trying to make the batter do something different and, and just play games with them. It’s probably my favourite place in the world to captain.
“You think back home in Australia and generally you’re playing with a third slip or putting a third slip to cover or your square leg up or back or something like that. There’s not too much that sort of goes on with it. Sort of just stick to the same game plan and try to trust what you’re trying to do there. But this part of the world you have to be really proactive. Every ball is an event and therefore can dictate what happens after, which is something that I really love and you’ve got to be ahead of the game. So I thought I did it well this week and it was good fun.”
Originally published as Pat Cummins to miss fourth Test to be with family in Australia