Steve Smith aims to get rid of ‘Mr Fix-it’ tag and revamp his role in T20Is for Australia

Amidst talks of his dispensability to Australia’s T20I set-up, Steve Smith is looking to assert his value to the side by rejuvenating the power-hitter inside him. 

Speaking ahead of the three-match T20I series in Sri Lanka, Smith said he is eyeing a revamped game in the shortest format, building towards a home T20 World Cup in October-November. 

Smith, used as an anchor to arrest rare collapses in the Australian set-up, is under threat of becoming a thing of the past for the T20I side in the emergence of a robust muscler at No.3 in Mitchell March and young hopeful Josh Inglis. 

Since the start of 2020, Smith has featured in only 18 of Australia’s 37 T20I matches – a clear sign that the think-tank has tended to manage without him – while averaging 23.76 with a strike-rate of only 119.30. 

This, at a time when Marsh proved to be Australia’s T20 World Cup hero in UAE last winter, with Inglis strengthening his case by going at 145.52 over six matches since the start of the recent home summer. 

Steve Smith hoping to move past the sheet anchor tag

Aware of where he stands in the T20I scheme of things, Steve Smith is hoping to make a fresh start in a new role with the series against Sri Lanka. The modern-day Test match batting great said he is taking confidence and freedom from the words of Australia’s stand-in coach Michael di Venuto. 

“I’m pretty excited that tag’s been taken off, to be honest with you. Diva (stand-in coach Michael di Venuto) actually told me the other day. He said ‘we’re getting rid of that tag, that’s gone. Just go out and play freely. If you want to smack your first or second ball for six, go for it’,” Smith told cricket.com.au. 

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What would’ve sped up the process of transformation for Smith is the jolt handed out to him in the IPL where Delhi Capitals (DC) opted not to retain their middle-order stalwart before he found no takers at the mega auction in Bangalore. An indictment that T20 sides are now going to look past anchors and eye robust powerhitters, who could maximise various stages of the innings. 

Smith, reacting according to the demands of the market, said: “So now it’s just about going out and playing freely and trusting my instincts, which I think I’ve done well over any format for a long time, instead of being a bit more reserved and trying not to get out, which I don’t think the right way to play T20 cricket.”

“When I’m playing the role that I was picked to play previously, you’re not as aggressive or free flowing as you could be. Then you see guys like ‘Maxi’ and ‘Stoin’ behind you and you suddenly feel pressure to turn the switch on straightaway. That’s not the way I’d generally play the game.”

The T20I series against Sri Lanka begins on Tuesday (June 7) in Colombo.