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Steve Smith is the former captain of team Australia. He has played all three formats for Australia. Smith has drawn comparisons to Don Bradman, widely believed as the greatest batsman of all time, due to his distinctively high Test batting average.
For the initial time, Australia will be hosting the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with the best players in the world from 16 teams set to feature around Australia with plenty of enormous crowds and hefty hits anticipated.
Why is a world-class batter, Steve Smith, at risk of becoming a T20 World Cup spectator?
Though the T20 game is built for the batters yet some world-class players can’t play much T20 cricket as they do play one-day and test cricket due to their approach toward this format. Steve Smith is arguably the best cricketer since Ricky Ponting for Australia, but there might not be space for him in Australia’s starting XI for this summer’s T20 World Cup defence campaign on residence soil.
Smith is the sort of player who takes a bit of time to get adjusted in the crease and their squad consisting of players who can play according to the situation and can go for a boundary on their first ball will be chosen over him anytime, any day. The former Australian Skipper himself said in an interview that he has to attain an attacking mindset.
Also read: South Africa, with all boxes ticked, is a strong contender in the upcoming T20 World Cup
Why is Mitchell Marsh preferred over Smith?
Steve Smith has statistically found the most triumph when batting at No. 3 in the 20-over format, but that location is occupied by Marsh, who has been labelled Men’s T20I Player of the Year at the 2022 Australian Cricket Awards. Moreover, the bowling option of medium pace which 31-year old offers is significant in Australian pitches.
The lower down the order Steve Smith bats, the less effective he’s been in T20 cricket. His Average at No. 3 is 34.93, at 4 is 26.12 and no. 5 is 18.66.
During this year’s Indian Premier League Auction, Mitchell Marsh was picked up by the Delhi Capitals for a huge sum even though he was injured, while Smith went unsold after none of the franchises bothered placing a bid.
The strike rate of Steve Smith is the biggest problem for Australia
Steve Smith has made seven single-figure scores in his last 13 T20I innings, averaging below 20 in the game’s shortest format this year. His T20I strike rate of 112.77 is the poorest among Australian top-order batters over the past 12 months. While the right-arm medium-pace bowler has more than 145. With Players like Marcus Stoinis and Tim David at the perimeter, Steve Smith is likely to forfeit the World cup in valuable matches.
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