'If Tim Paine plays till 37-38, it may be too late for Steve Smith to become Australia captain,' says Mark Taylor

Former Australian cricketer Mark Taylor has suggested the longer Tim Paine remains the captain of the Australian Test team, the chances of having Steven Smith the skipper once again will diminish more.

Smith was sacked from the role following his role in the infamous ball tampering incident in South Africa in 2018. Smith, along with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, was banned for 12 months. In the aftermath, Cricket Australia announced that Warner was barred from ever holding a leadership position in the national side, while Smith was handed a two-year sanction before he could be reconsidered for the captaincy.

Justin Langer, who took over Australia's head coach role following the ball-tampering incident, handed Aaron Finch the limited-overs captaincy and Tim Paine the Baggy Green responsibility.

"I think the thing that will potentially go against him is how long Tim Paine will play for. If he's still there at 37, 38, then it might be too late for Steve. Conversely, if in the next year or so Tim's form [drops] or he gives it away, I'd like to think Steve would be considered.

Yes, some mistakes were made a couple of years ago, I still feel to the day he was very wary of the mistakes he made and I don't think it would happen again. I wouldn't rule him out of captaining Australia in the future," Taylor was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Speaking on Paine's performance as the Test captain, Taylor said," I think he's done a very good job, don't get me wrong, but I also think he took over at such a hard time and the cricket side was at such a low there was a lot of room for improvement, put it that way.

There's no doubt he was made captain because he was a senior cricketer in Australian cricket, with his head screwed on right, and therefore he was the right man for the job at the right time."

Paine and Co are set to host Team India in the four-Test Border Gavaskar series from December. Before the longest format, India and Australia will lock horns in limited-overs series, starting Nov. 27. The last time India travelled to Australia, the hosts were without Warner and Smith and Virat Kohli had become the first captain from Asia to win a Test series Down Under.