One of the talking points of the 2026 T20 World Cup has been the elimination of Australia in the group stages. The men from down under couldn’t sustain a group featuring Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Oman. Australia’s early departure has raised a lot of eyebrows questioning the intent of the players and the side’s readiness to compete in the shortest format of the game.
Former Australian skipper Steve Smith was left out of the initial World Cup squad before being called upon as a cover for Mitchell Marsh. Smith arrived in Sri Lanka midway through the competition for Marsh who was facing an internal testicular bleeding after a direct blow to the groin during training.
But, he was formally added to the squad only after star pacer Josh Hazzlewood was ruled out of the World Cup owing to injury issues. Smith’s name was officially added to to squad list only after Australia were eliminated from the World Cup which has raised questions at the team management’s decision to call up Smith.
Steve Smith is considered to be one of Australia’s finest players across all formats. He was a part of the Fab 4 back in the day. He has shown what he can do in white ball cricket with his recent Big Bash League (BBL) performances yet the decision to not make him play a single game is being seen as an insult by both fans and pundits.
Former Australian international Mark Waugh recently opened up about the entire scenario and said, "I think that the whole campaign was doomed from the get go with selection issues and injuries.
Waugh labelled Smith’s absence from the squad to be an ‘insult’ for the legendary Australian batter.
“To me, the non-selection of Steve Smith in the squad originally is the most baffling non-selection I can remember for ages. I just think they've got the selections completely wrong and to have your best player by 100 yards sitting on the sidelines in Steve Smith, I think it's an insult to Steve Smith, to be honest." he added.
