Why has Steve Smith been left out of Australia's squad for ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024?

Once an all-format player, Steve Smith has been left out of Australia's squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024.

Smith is a notable omission from the squad as the right-handed batter hasn't missed a single white-ball World Cup for Australia since the 2015 ICC 50-over spectacle.

Having scored 379 and 302 runs, Smith helped Australia win the 2015 and 2023 ODI World Cup. However, the ODI talisman has not been able to replicate similar performances in the shortest format of the game.

While Smith has aggregated 5446 runs in the ODI format at an average of 43.91 with the help of 12 centuries and 33 half-centuries, the 34-year-old has amassed 1094 runs in 67 T20Is at a strike rate of only 125.45 and an average of 24.86.

In an era where batters are going hell for leather from ball one, Smith, a traditionalist, is struggling to keep up with the pace at which the T20 game is evolving and hence has fallen out of favour.

Smith, the batter, needs time to get into the groove and often fails to compensate for the balls he consumes at the beginning of his innings. 

His performance in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup doesn't make a good reading either. The New South Wales-born has had 14 innings in the T20 World Cup and could only score 190 runs at an average of 19.00.

His strike rate too dips down to just 111.76 compared to his career strike rate of 125.45. Therefore, the selectors decided to back their tried and tested performers for the marquee tournament in the USA and the Caribbean.

Steve Smith's T20I career

Steve Smith's T20 World Cup record