Australia's stand-in skipper Steve Smith feels there is something "fundamentally wrong" with his teammate David Warner's lifetime leadership ban. Warner had recently announced that he has given up on hopes of becoming the Australian captain again as the review panel wanted him and his family to go through "public lynching".
After a resounding win over West Indies in the pink-ball Test at Adelaide Oval on December 11, Smith shared his point of view on Warner’s captaincy ban that has been heavily scrutinised of late. 
"From my point of view, banning for life from leadership is just fundamentally wrong," said Smith Australia’s largest Test win by runs against West Indies.
“David served his time like I did. For us, we know he’s a leader around the group, and on and off the field he’s doing a tremendous job.
"It’s been a difficult one for him, it’s been a difficult week. It has been more of a distraction for Davey, no doubt, going through that himself.
"David has said he's done and dusted and get on with it. He's got our full support. Hopefully he can have a really big series for us against South Africa with the bat."
Amidst the controversy Warner's form has taken a hit. He did not cross the fifty-run mark in the two-Test series against the Kraigg Brathwaite-led side. He registered scores of 5 and 48 in Perth whereas he got decent starts (21 and 28) in the Day/Night Test but failed to convert them into big scores.
The veteran Australian opener's average has taken a hit as well. In the last two years, his average is an ordinary 28.12.
Later this month, South Africa will tour Australia for Test series. Ahead of the Test series, Smith has backed Warner to regain his form and carry it forward to Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the Ashes.
"Davey's a once-in-a-generation player, he's arguably the best-ever opener for Australia. The way he's able to put pressure on bowlers from the outset helps everyone down the order as well," Smith said.
"He's been an incredible player for a long period of time, his record suggest that. There's no reason why he can't have a big series for us coming this week as well. He's batting nicely.
"He hasn't had a great deal of luck lately either, it seems like every time he gets an inside edge, it goes onto the stumps. A lot of the time when you're scoring runs you need some luck.
"For me it's in his body language the way he goes out there - he's really positive and just in a good frame of mind. Particularly yesterday when he went out to bat he was in a good frame of mind, the way his feet were moving was really sharp," he added.