“It’s a surprise”: Steve Smith reacts on Joe Root’s absence from England’s T20I squad

Steve Smith reacts on Joe Root’s absence: The Australian batsman is surprised by the absence of his English counterpart.

Australia batsman Steve Smith might not have dominated the T20I format like other formats but accepts understanding his role in the Australian T20I side.

“I know my role within this team. It’s important every player has a role to play and understands the way they play their best. I know if I’m batting with someone like Glenn Maxwell or Aaron Finch my role is to get them on strike and let them smack it,” Smith was quoted as saying by PA News Agency.

Smith, who played his first T20I after more than three years against Sri Lanka at home in October 2019, has scored 250 runs in six innings at an average of 83.33 and a strike rate of 147.92 since then. Contrary to his average and strike rate of 21.55 and 122.44 respectively in his first 30 T20Is, Smith seems to be in the middle of a T20I transformation.

Despite striking in vicinity of 150 in the recent times, Smith believes his role is still of that of anchoring the Australian innings and providing more opportunities to “big boys”.

“For me it’s about hitting gaps, sort of playing an anchor role and fixing things up if the big boys don’t get out there and smack it. We all know our roles and I’m comfortable with mine.

“You’ve got to keep refining and keeping up with the new skills. You’ve just got to keep getting better. But I don’t think there’s a reason why players can’t be quality across all formats,” Smith said.

Steve Smith reacts on Joe Root’s absence

While Australia landed in England with a 21-member squad for six white-ball matches, England recently named their squads for both ODIs and T20Is. Being asked about the absence of his counterpart Joe Root from England’s T20I squad, Smith was left surprised at the move by the English selectors.

“It’s a surprise. Joe [Root] is a terrific player across all formats of the game. I guess England are opting for all-out power and are continuing to go that way. Everyone’s got different game-plans and different ways to go. If everyone played the same it would be a pretty boring game.

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“There’s a few ways to skin a cat and ours might be a little bit different to England’s, which might be a little bit different to India’s. That’s the route they’ve taken for now, but I guess we’ll concentrate on the way we go about our business,” Smith added.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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