In March 2018, Smith as Australian captain was widely criticised for the ball tampering in the third Test against South Africa that Cameron Bancroft performed and David Warner planned, during which he stood down from the team captaincy and was replaced by Tim Paine.

Smith joined the Sydney Sixers and filled in as captain when Brad Haddin could not play due to Test duties,[24] subsequently leading the team to victory in the inaugural season.

In October 2016, Smith took on an official ambassador role for the Sixers, given his international commitments as Australian captain in all formats, he was unable to appear in a playing capacity.

[30] In January 2022, Cricket Australia blocked Steve Smith from playing in the BBL11 finals on a technicality that he wasn't registered in the player pool, having expected international commitments to have made him unavailable.

A total of 8 wins in 10 matches helped the Supergiants finish in the second position, and thus qualify for the playoffs, with Smith receiving praise for his captaincy from renowned cricketers and experts like Sunil Gavaskar and Kevin Pietersen.

[70][71] In his first representative match since his conviction for ball-tampering, Smith scored 61 runs from 41 balls alongside Anton Devcich as the Toronto Nationals won by six wickets against the Vancouver Knights.

Batting with the tail, he scored 77 including nine fours and two sixes off successive balls, helping Australia to set a competitive target after having been bowled out for 88 in the first innings.

"[124][125] The win saw Australia rise back to number one in the ICC ODI Rankings and Steve Smith was made man of the series for his batting performances.

[citation needed] On 15 December, Smith was named Australia's new vice-captain and following an injury to Michael Clarke, he was appointed stand-in skipper against India with Brad Haddin as his deputy.

[139][140] Following the Test series, an ODI tri-series with India and England was confirmed in preparation for the upcoming Cricket World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

En route to the tri-series final, Smith was handed his first ODI match on 20 January as the skipper after George Bailey was suspended for a slow-over rate earlier in the series.

Due to IPL commitments, Smith missed out on Australia's maiden warm up match against the West Indies Cricket Board President's XI on 27 May.

[149] Australia later won the match in positive fashion, beating the West Indies by 277 runs within four days and retained the Frank Worrell Trophy.

However, England regained the Ashes 3–2 after winning in Nottingham in early August and later saw the Test retirements of Australia's senior players: Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers and later Shane Watson, Ryan Harris and Brad Haddin.

[162] The retirement of Michael Clarke following Australia's 3–2 defeat in the 2015 Ashes series saw Smith appointed as the full-time captain of the Australian Test and ODI teams.

[189] Following the defeat, criticism of Smith's captaincy and the team's performance emerged which saw the influx of young players such as Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and Nic Maddison for the last Test.

Despite Pakistan being bowled out for a low score of 142 in the first innings, Smith's captaincy tactics sparked a mixed response from critics when the on-field umpires made the decision to increase the fourth day evening session for another thirty minutes, believing a result would be determined.

The second Test match was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Smith later placed his seventeenth century, the fourth-fastest to do so and also reaching 1000 runs in the calendar year—his third consecutive achievement of this since 2014.

[201] Following the training at ICC's Cricket Academy Centre in Dubai, Smith began the tour of India with a century in their maiden warm-up match in Mumbai.

[232] The result was overshadowed by a stairwell confrontation between Australian vice captain David Warner and South African wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock.

[233] This led to Smith and opposing captain Faf du Plessis being called to a meeting with umpires and match officials, where they were reminded of their responsibility to control their teams.

When attending the press conference at the conclusion of the third day's play with Bancroft, Smith admitted that the "leadership group" of the team discussed tampering with the ball to influence the result of the match during the lunch break.

[241] Smith and vice-captain David Warner stood down from the team leadership the morning after the incident, but still played on, and wicketkeeper Tim Paine took over as interim captain for the rest of the Test match.

[280][281][282] In the first day-night Test match at Perth against New Zealand, Smith struggled, scoring 43 and 16, and was dismissed both innings to the short-pitched bowling of fast-bowler Neil Wagner.

[332] Ex-Australian captain Ian Chappell noted "He doesn't look as comfortable at the crease because India have given him things to think about" and "In trying to avoid one way of getting out, you can create another one, and I think that's happened a bit with Smith.

[352] Smith performed well against Pakistan, averaging 56.50 in 4 innings and achieving a top score of 78, but did not manage to fully take advantage of the "dead" and "benign" pitch at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium during the first test, unlike his Pakistani contemporaries.

[408] Smith suffered an injury to his right elbow in the Big Bash while fielding, in the lead up to the tour but was later cleared to join the squad in Dubai for preparation, after consulting a specialist.

[421] Due to his unorthodox style, Smith was initially labelled as a limited-overs batsman who might struggle in the longer form of the game, especially early in his career when he was vulnerable outside off stump.

[420] Smith spontaneously experimented with his technique during the Perth Test match in the 2013–14 Ashes, during which he decided to take a "prelim movement back and across" to counter short-pitched bowling.

[433] Smith has also displayed exceptional ground fielding skills, capable of producing sharp run-outs as well as athletic outfield catches and boundary saves.