‘It would be cool to be part of an Olympics’ – Steve Smith keeps 2028 dream alive as T20I spot in shadows

Steven Smith. (Source – Twitter/X)

Steve Smith was snubbed for the T20 World Cup 2024 as Australia ended their journey in the Super 8 stages of the tournament. Smith, however, continues to feature in the Big Bash League for Sydney Sixers. Notably, the legendary Australian recently signed a three-year deal with the franchise and hopes to make it to the T20I team ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

For the unversed, cricket has been recognized as one of the games to be included in the Olympics, starting from 2028. It is worth noting that, after David Warner announced his retirement from Tests and white-ball, Smith was seen opening for the Sixers, but the batters did not produce any substantial score to back his prospects. There were speculations that the 35-year-old will be retiring in one of the formats after his dismal outing in the World Cup 2023. But the former Australia skipper seemed quite hopeful to hang around for a while.

“I could still be playing T20 cricket in four years, so you never know. It’s a format I can see myself playing probably for a lot longer than some of the others, especially with the franchise stuff around the world. I’ve signed on here for three years so it’s only another year after that. It would be cool to be part of an Olympics,” said Smith as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“I don’t have any plans. I’m just enjoying playing at the moment, I’m pretty relaxed and looking forward to this summer,” he added further.

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You can’t really hide in a five-Test series: Smith

The upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India will be a litmus test for Steven Smith as a batter. He has been less than a better batter in the red-ball cricket for a while now. With T20Is still a dream afar for the right-handed batter, he could well solidify a place in the 50-over format with a performance against India.

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“You can’t really hide in a five-Test series like you probably can in a two-match series for instance. If someone gets the wood on you, it can be hard coming back from that. It’s going to be a wonderful series,” Smith concluded.