Steve Smith ruled out of T20 World Cup 2024? Matthew Wade delivers shocking update from the Australian camp
Australian wicketkeeper Matthew Wade has hinted that Steve Smith might not be a part of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 as Australia has a bunch of players who have performed well in the shortest format and cannot be ignored in the T20 World Cup.
The Aussies recently whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 in the T20I series where skipper Mitchell Marsh and Tim David were brilliant with the bat in the series and won the first T20I against New Zealand in a nail-biting encounter.
Australia already have their top order set with Travis Head and David Warner taking up the opening slot with Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell likely to bat at No.3 and No.4.
With Tim David and Josh Inglis providing the perfect balance in the side, Steve Smith might likely find himself out of the Australian squad in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Australia won the T20 World Cup in 2021 which was held in UAE, when they defeated New Zealand in the finals under the leadership of Aaron Finch.
Matthew Wade has his fingers crossed for Steve Smith’s selection as he feels that because of his absence from the shortest format in the past few months, he can be ignored by the selectors for the T20 World Cup which is scheduled for June 1 later this year.
Steve Smith will not be a part of the IPL 2024 and that also hampers his selection in the T20 World Cup. Even if Steve Smith is selected, Matthew Wade feels someone might get unlucky and will miss the T20 World Cup.
“Obviously, Smithy hasn’t played a heap of T20 cricket in the last little bit for Australia, and there will be chats around those final few positions in the 15. Fingers crossed he makes it, but there’s always going to be someone that’s unlucky and I’m not sure who that’s going to be this time,” Wade said.
Steve Smith does not have a good record in T20 cricket
Steve Smith is not someone who bats aggressively, rather he is a technically sound batter which is sometimes not enough in a T20 match. In 67 T20I matches, Steve Smith has scored 1094 runs at an average of 24.86 and a strike rate of 125.46 which is nowhere close to his stats in ODIs and Test cricket.
In 55 innings, he has only scored five 50+ scores in T20Is and he has played only four T20Is since 2023. There is a huge question mark on his selection as he was also not a part of Australia’s T20 World Cup winning squad in 2021.
The ICC T20 World Cup 2024 is scheduled to commence on June 1, 2024, and will be jointly hosted by the United States of America and the West Indies. England is the defending champions of the competition as they won the World Cup in 2022 defeating Pakistan in the finals.
Meanwhile, Australia has shown some good cricket in the shortest format and will be eyeing for their second title in the T20Is. They recently won the ODI World Cup in 2023 where they defeated the hosts India in the finals.
