With Paine stepping down from Test Cricket captaincy how is likely to captain Australia now?

Who would have thought after winning the T20 World Cup title under the leadership of Aaron Finch in Dubai against Black Caps by eight wickets in days to come we would hear Tim Paine deciding to step down from his leadership role from the longest format of the game. The question arises will Pat Cummins will be leading this side for five-match Test series against England or will we witness Steve Smith regaining his captaincy in Test cricket for Australia.

Cummins who is a current vice-captain in Test format for Australia over the years is the most likely to succeed in a leadership role but in a team that has a player like Steve Smith who is extremely successful as a batsman and leader, it is likely possible that the latter can be given a leadership role.

Read Tim Paine's full statement as the wicketkeeper stepped down as skipper on the eve of a home #Ashes series. https://t.co/wbcZDMtEnH

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 19, 2021

The other option that could have been given leadership roles are Marnus Labuschagne and Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood and someone like Labuschagne can be a key choice considering he is a top batsman in this format and he can easily serve this side in years to come.

Labuschagne is often called as deputy of Smith with the way he has an ability to play long innings like the latter and he is someone on whom the team relies much when they need to draw a Test match or bring opposition in pressure.

Paine who resigned from captaincy did quite well as the leader of this Australian side as under his leadership Australia managed to pull out a draw against Three Lions in Ashes in 19 years. However, his last stint at home in a four-match series against India didn’t pan out quite well where after registering a humongous victory against India at Adelaide where they bowled out Men in Blue for 36 runs only and no one gave chance to India but the later came out as victorious once the series finished at Brisbane where India managed to win series by 2-1.