Former Australia captain Steve Smith announced his retirement from ODIs earlier this year. Smith made the decision after the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 where he led the Australian team to semifinals in captain Pat Cummins' absence. While many thought Smith did not see himself playing the ODI World Cup 2027, the 36-year-old revealed he did to play T20 franchise cricket around the world. Also, he has not given up on his return to the T20I side and wants to play in the LA Olympics 2028 as cricket returns to the sporting extravaganza after a long wait of 128 years.
"I decided to stop playing one-day cricket so I can play more franchises, with the aim to make the Olympic team," Smith said.
"So to play more shorter-form tournaments around the world is only going to be beneficial. It has been a long run for me, and I have been doing this for a long time. I am still enjoying it and particularly the shorter formats and want to keep putting my name out there."
Smith recently had to withdraw from the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 due to his Test commitments for the Caribbean tour and the finger injury that he sustained during the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final against South Africa at Lord's. In his absence, Glenn Maxwell led Washington Freedom to the final where they lost to Nicholas Pooran's MI New York.
Smith's T20 career
The last time Smith played a T20I was in February 2024. He was not picked in Australia's squad for T20 World Cup 2024 in West Indies and the USA. In his previous T20I appearance, he was dismissed for just four runs by Kiwi pacer Adam Milne.
Smith has played 67 T20Is and scored 1,094 runs from 55 innings, averaging 24.86. His strike rate is 125.45 which is not apt for current T20 standards. He has five half-centuries in T20Is. Meanwhile, his T20 record in domestic T20s and francise cricket is better. He scored two centuries for Sydney Sixers in the previous edition of the Big Bash League (BBL) 2024-25.