Steve Smith Retires from ODI Cricket, Refuses to Buy India Advantage Talks
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 5: One of the greatest cricketers of his generation, Australia captain batter Steve Smith, who refused to buy the argument that India enjoyed advantage by playing at one venue, Dubai, in the on-going ICC Champions Trophy, announced retirement from ODI cricket on Wednesday after his team’s elimination from the tournament on being defeated by India in the first semi-final on Tuesday.
Smith was named the captain of the national team for the tournament after primary skipper Pat Cummins was ruled out due to an injury.
Smith has featured in a whopping 170 ODIs for the team, scoring 572 runs with 12 centuries while also winning the World Cup twice. However, the announcement means that Smith will not be a part of the Australian team in the 2027 ODI World Cup.
“It has been a great ride, and I have loved every minute of it,” Smith said. “There have been so many amazing times and wonderful memories. Winning two World Cups was a great highlight along with the many fantastic team-mates who shared the journey,” he added in a media release shared by Cricket Australia.
“Now is a great opportunity for people to start preparing for the 2027 World Cup so it feels like the right time to make way,” he said. “I feel I still have a lot to contribute on that stage,” he said.
Smith also attended Australia’s post-match press conference on Tuesday after the defeat against India. During the press conference, Smith was asked about the expectations from Australia to do well in ICC events and what went wrong this time. The veteran batter admitted that the inexperience in the side cost them a spot in the final.
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“I think we’ve got pretty good records in big games in ICC events and I thought the guys turned up and did a really good job. It’s obviously a bit of inexperience in our team, particularly our bowling attack. Some new guys there who I thought did a really good job as well. So, they’re going to be better for the exposure to a big event and playing against world-class players like the ones we came up against today and throughout the tournament. So, plenty of positives to take from it,” he said in the presser.
Smith was Australia’s top-scoring batter in the semi-final, 73 runs off 96 balls. With Smith quitting the ODI format and not a central figure in the team’s T20 setup, the Test format is the only platform where the batter would be seen in action.
To a question, Smith played down venue advantage to India which had been a hot topic for debate among former cricketers and some sections of fans. There has hardly been any press conference where questions haven’t been raised about tournament scheduling. After India stormed into the final, head coach Gautam Gambhir quickly dismissed the possibility of his side receiving an undue advantage of playing all of their matches in Dubai.
Smith didn’t buy into the claims that India had an advantage by playing all its matches at one venue and felt India deserved to win, considering they had completely “outplayed” them. “Yeah, look, I’m not buying into it. I think it is what it is. India obviously played some really good cricket here. The surface kind of suits their style with the spinners that they’ve got and the seamers that they have at their disposal for a wicket like that. They played well, they outplayed us, and they deserve the victory,” Smith said.
After Australia won the toss and opted to bat, glimpses of the 2023 final reverberated in the stadium. Travis Head provided a brisk start with his swift 39 (33), putting the Baggy Greens in a dominant position. With Australia scoring at a healthy run rate, a total somewhere around 300 appeared to be plausible.
The only factor keeping them from hitting their goal was Indian bowlers regularly breaking their partnerships at crucial junctures. Smith admitted that if they had managed to drag one of their stands, 290 to 300 would have been a realistic total instead of settling for 264.
“Yeah, I think the toss was the right decision. I think we had our opportunities throughout to post something above 300. We were probably just that one wicket down too many at a few stages throughout the innings. If we extended one of those partnerships a little bit, we’re probably getting up 290 – 300, and we’re putting a bit of pressure on the scoreboard,” he said.
“So, it’s clearly not the easiest wicket to bat on. The square block as a whole I think has seen a lot of cricket over the last couple of months. We can see it’s pretty tired and that’s probably the reason why we haven’t seen a score above 300 in the tournament here so far. So we did a reasonable job but we probably just lacked a couple of those partnerships just dragging out a little bit further to get us up somewhere near 300 or just above,” he added.
