Steve Smith eyes playing for Australia in LA 2028 Olympics

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) Australia star batter Steve Smith is eyeing to represent the country at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics which is likely to be played in the T20 format.

Smith was left out of Australia’s T20 World Cup squad in June this year but the experienced batter remains committed to his T2OI future. He has signed a new three-year deal with the Big Bash League (BBL) franchise Sydney Sixers that will see him playing the tournament until at least 2026-27. However, Smith has to regain his spot in the T20I national side to fulfil his dream of playing in the Olympics.

“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,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Smith as saying.

“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.

Smith will return to action in the ODIs against England after being left out of the T20I matches for the United King tour. However, his real test will be against India in the five-match Test series as his red-ball opening spot is still uncertain.

“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 said.

The right-handed batter hopes to beat India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home for the first time in ten years as visitors have not lost the Test series since the 2014-15 series in Australia.

“We are probably the two best teams at the moment in Test cricket. We played the World Test Championship final last year and beat them there. They’ve been great out here the last couple of times, they’ve played really good cricket, hopefully we can turn the tables. It’s been ten years since we last won the Border-Gavaskar trophy so need to do that this year.”

Smith is unperturbed regarding his batting position in Test cricket and is open to bat at his usual No. 4 position. He has played four Tests as an opener and scored 171 runs at 28.50 although that included a superb unbeaten 91 against West Indies.

“The conversations I’ve had so far is that we’ll go to England… I’m there for the one-dayers, then make a decision after that. There’s conversations happening in the background. You see some comments that guys like Usman [Khawaja] has said he likes me down at No. 4, think Marnus is of a similar thought pattern. We’ll wait and see. I’m happy to bat anywhere,” he said.

“For me, it’s just a position. Batting at four, I could be in after the first two balls. I’ve been in early on many occasions and faced the new ball. For me, it’s kind of just a number. I batted at three for a long period of time as well and we lost wickets inside the first over and I’ll come out and score runs. The only real thing I had to get used to was how quick a turnaround it is when you come off the field and you only have ten minutes, particularly with the amount of mucking around I have in the changing rooms,” Smith concluded.

–IANS

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