Mark Taylor calls for Steve Smith’s return to Australia T20I team

New Delhi, Sep 8
Former Australia captain Mark Taylor has called for Steve Smith to be given a recall into the T20I set-up, citing that the top-order is having a flawed plan post the retirement of David Warner.

After Australia sans Smith were knocked out of Super Eight stage of Men’s T20 World Cup in June, the right-handed batter wasn't selected in the 20-over squad for the tour of Scotland and England. Australia opted to draft in young Jake-Fraser McGurk, who made two ducks and a knock of 16 in the recent series win over Scotland.

"I'm interested to see what Australia does from here on with that top order to replace Dave Warner. It seems to be at the moment it's about putting more and more hitters in there and eventually one of them will come off. I think that's a bit of a flawed plan because I'd like to see Steve Smith back in our order somewhere," said Taylor on Nine's Wide World of Sports show.

In the T20 World Cup, Australia also suffered a shock 21-run loss to Afghanistan in St Vincent and Taylor believes the defeat showed why the side missed someone like Smith in their ranks, while adding that he sees a place for him in the 2026 edition of the tournament.

"If or when you get a slow pitch as we did in the recent World Cup, we lost to Afghanistan which forced us out of that World Cup, we needed someone like Steve Smith in that middle order. I still think the better batsmen in the world will bat well in all formats so I just worry about our philosophy that Warner's out, let's go with another hitter."

"I'd still like Australian selectors to think about putting Steve Smith back in the side somewhere to add a bit of stability for a slow pitch. On a flat pitch sure, put all your hitters in and go for it, try and make 200. On a slower pitch, sometimes 150 can be hard to chase as we saw when Australia played Afghanistan in the recent World Cup," he concluded.