Regular skipper Pat Cummins missed the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka to nurse his ankle injury and attend the birth of his child and has not yet resumed bowling ahead of Australia's CT campaign beginning in Pakistan on February 22.
Coach Andrew McDonald has also confirmed fellow paceman Josh Hazlewood is still "battling" the side injury that curtailed his home Test summer and ruled him out for Sri Lanka.
"Patty is hugely unlikely which is a bit of a shame and we've got also Josh Hazlewood who is battling at the moment," McDonald said on SEN.
"Medical information will land over the next couple of days. We'll be able to sure that up and let everyone know the direction."
Both Cummins and Hazlewood were included in Australia's preliminary squad for the first Champions Trophy since 2017, alongside front-line pacemen Mitch Starc and Nathan Ellis.
Aaron Hardie and Marcus Stoinis can send down pace overs too, but Australia would likely call in reinforcements if Cummins and Hazlewood are officially ruled out.
Squads need to be finalised by February 12, with McDonald likely to alter his 15-player touring party following an injury to allrounder Mitch Marsh.
Marsh, who has replaced Cummins as One Day International captain in recent times, is unavailable with a back injury.
That has left Smith and Travis Head as the two leading options to skipper Australia if Cummins is out.
Travis Head (r) is a contender to lead Australia if Pat Cummins misses the Champions Trophy. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)
"That (decision) will unfold in the next couple of days," McDonald said.
"Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two (options) we've been having conversations with."
Smith has impressed returning to the Test captaincy in Sri Lanka for the first full series since the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering saga.
Off-spinner Matthew Kuhnemann notably called Smith a "genius" for the fields he set during the first Test win by an innings and 242 runs last week.
"Steve has done a great job here in the Test match, he's done some good work in one-day international cricket across the journey as well," McDonald said.
Ahead of the second Sri Lanka Test, Smith had not pondered captaining in ODIs and will for the first time since 2023 if he is named skipper.
But he says he is enjoying leading the team in Galle.
"We've got to get through this Test match, we want to win here first of all," he said.
"I love captaining in these (sub-continent) conditions. I understand the game well and the angles that need to be created, just moving the chess pieces around the board. It's good fun."
Head has not captained Australia in ODIs but filled in as Twenty20 International skipper in 2024 and was South Australia's youngest-ever first-class captain as a 21-year-old.
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