Sydney, Aug 21: Months back he revealed that the reason why he opted to open for Australia in Test cricket was, he did not like to wait for his turn to bat.
Australia's premier batter and former captain in all three formats Steven Smith was once considered as one of the three batting greats (Virat Kohli and Joe Root being the other two) of present generation cricketers.
But time has changed. All three Kohli, Root and Smith are no more the skippers of their national teams. Though Kohli and Root have no real threats to their positions in the playing XI in India and England respectively in their preferred formats, but Smith has been facing a bit of a challenge.
In recent times, he has not been a regular in Australia's T20I side. In Test cricket, perhaps realising stiff competition from youngsters, who are fast bowling allrounders as well, he opted to bat as an opener after David Warner quit red-ball games.
Well, Smith may appear to be bit unorthodox in his batting approach at times, but he was for years Australia's premier batter. After the infamous 'Sandpaper-gate' ball-tempering scandal in South Africa, he not only lost his captainship and position in the side, but had a real career shock.
As always, Smith fought back and even occasionally captained Australia in absence of regular skippers and won matches. But somehow, he could never dominate world cricket as earlier.
Unless there is any injury scare, Smith will be back in action again on the international stage when Australia take on England in the ODI series. He will also play Test cricket at home later this year when India tour Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. On his batting position in Tests, the veteran batter is happy to bat anywhere in the line-up.
His tryst as an opener in Test cricket, has not been very encouraging and in T20I cricket he does not in Australian squad feature regularly. Even he has been cold shouldered in Indian Premier League (IPL) in the last couple of seasons.
Smith has not been part of Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2021 and has been associated as a TV commentator and broadcaster. But is he still interested in IPL as a player? The answer is yes, he indicated in a media interaction recently.
He recently missed out from the Aussie T20I squad for the series against England and Scotland. He last appeared in a T20 game for Australia in February 2024 and was not a part of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 squad.
For the England and Scotland T20Is, Australia preferred to back youngsters Cooper Connolly and Jake Fraser-McGurk ahead of Smith.
Interestingly, he earlier admitted that he is unsure of his future in T20I cricket. But had stated that he is determined to improve his performance and make a comeback into the Australian T20I set-up.
However, 35-year-old Smith has signed a three-year deal with Big Bash League (BBL) franchise Sydney Sixers. Smith has been in good form of late, especially in T20 cricket, where he won the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2024 as Washington Freedom captain.
But with cricket being included in Los Angeles Olympics 2028, Smith recently said he is hopeful of being part of Aussie squad in the 2028 Games. That may stun many. But considering Smith's track record as a determined cricketer and his change of role from a leg-spin bowler to a premier batter, it though appears difficult, but not impossible.
The 'never say never' approach makes Steven Smith - the cricketer, a fighter for ever. He has faced many ups and downs in his career, but always fought back valiantly and proved his mettle.
