Australia cricket team have named Steve Smith as Josh Hazlewood’s replacement in the 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup 2026. The Australian pacer was earlier ruled out of the entire tournament due to injury. Meanwhile, Smith had linked up with the rest of the Australian side after Mitchell Marsh suffered a groin injury while training.
Smith named Hazlewood’s replacement
As per an ICC release, Smith’s addition to Australia’s T20 World Cup squad comes after it was approved by the ICC Event Technical Committee. The release states that the former Australian captain could feature in Australia’s penultimate group stage clash against Sri Lanka, which is a must-win for them in order to proceed to the Super 8 stage. It is pertinent to point out that Smith last featured in a T20I way back in February 2024 against New Zealand in Auckland.
Led by Travis Head in the absence of Marsh, Australia started their T20 World Cup campaign on a victorious note win a 67-run win against Ireland. However, the Aussies were handed a huge upset in their next game against Zimbabwe as Sikandar Raza and co defeated them by 23 runs, putting their chances of making it to the Super 8 in jeopardy.
It remains to be seen if Smith will be drafted into the playing XI for the game against Sri Lanka, given that his returns with the bat in T20s has been poor in the recent past. This includes sub-par performances in the Big Bash League (BBL) as well.
Australia squad for T20 World Cup
Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
