Should Steve Smith be in Australia’s team? Aaron Finch answers

The T20 World Cup 2022 is scheduled to take place in Australia later this year. Ahead of the all-important tournament, Australia will be looking to prepare for the competition. They will be playing a T20I series against Sri Lanka. Notably, Australia will be defending the title in the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup. Aaron Finch will not have much to think about his team as the squad looks settled by the presence of Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Glen Maxwell, Jos Inglish, and Matthew Wade.

Due to their big-hitting and all-around abilities, Maxwell and Stoinis’ place in the playing eleven is quite sure. Given his form, Mitchell Marsh has also his form reserved in the team if he stays fit. So, the competition is for one lone spot in the playing eleven.

Australia has announced their playing eleven for the first match of the series. The team includes Steve Smith in the middle order for the match on June 7 in Colombo. They have given Smith a nod ahead of Jos Inglish, who has been brilliant since his debut for Australia. So far, Inglish has scored 179 runs in six matches for Australia at a strike rate of 145.

Aaron Finch, the Aussie limited-overs skipper recently defended Smith’s selection, saying that the team has full confidence in the player. He also stated that he believes Smith has the abilities for the role the team management has decided for him.

“Steve can play that role where if we lose a couple of wickets in the powerplay then he comes in and plays that top-order role,”- quoting Finch from Australian publication WA Today.

Finch also revealed that Australia will look to float Smith in the batting order as per the match situation.

“But if we get outside the powerplay then Maxy will go in at No. 4 and Smithy will slot into that middle order,”- Finch said.

“He’s someone who can read the game as well as anyone and is as skilled as anyone in the world, so just giving him the freedom to go out there, take the game on and play what’s in front of him is super important. We’ve got all the confidence he can play that role unbelievably well,”- Finch added.

Smith is mainly seen as the anchor in the Australian batting order. Though his place in the team for the shortest format of the game has been a point of debate. However, Australia will hope that Smith brings his spin-bowling abilities to the forefront during the series in Australia.

Here is Australia’s team for the Sri Lanka series.

Aaron Finch (C), David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Josh H