Even as Virat Kohli scored his 25th Test century at ongoing Perth Test on Sunday, his one-time rival and the batsman considered closest to him in the stakes of modern day batting greats, Steve Smith was in Sydney leading his club side Sutherland to the title of NSW Premier T20 champions.

The former Australian captain is serving a year-long ban from international and domestic cricket for his role in the ball-tampering scandal earlier this year. However, he is allowed to play club cricket as well as international T20 leagues, which he has been doing, as Tim Paine leads Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Smith was captaining a team for the first time since March in his home ground where he has played six Tests in the past. And he showed what he was capable of as he led his team in the semi-final and final of the competition at the SCG. The back-to-back matches were the 29-year-old’s first at a major Australian cricket ground since, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

The 29-year-old helped Sutherland reach the final of the Twenty20 competition with an unbeaten 42 off 44 balls in his side’s semi-final chase of 113 against St George. Hours later he scored 19 off 11 balls in the final against Sydney University to clinch the title.

The former Australian captain is unlikely to regain Australian captaincy even as his suspension ends a little before next year’s World Cup as he is barred from holding a leadership position in international and domestic cricket for another 12 months.