After a marvellous show at the Major League Cricket, Steve Smith, the veteran Australian batsman would like to make his way back into the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year.
The 35-year-old led Washington Freedom to their first ever MLC title, finishing the T20 tournament as the franchise’s joint-top run-scorer having scored 336 runs at a strike rate of 148.67.
During final against San Francisco Unicorns, Smith top scored with an 88 off 52 balls facing bowlers such as Australia captain Pat Cummins and Pakistan’s Haris Rauf.
Smith had been awarded player-of-the-match in that final for his efforts.
FOX Cricket quoted Smith as saying: “I’d certainly love another opportunity at IPL. I’ll be throwing my name in the ring, and we’ll see how we go.”
“I feel like in every opportunity I’ve had in T20 cricket recently and franchise stuff, I’ve played quite nicely. So hopefully I just keep putting my name up there and enjoying it.”
Smith has not played IPL since 2021 when he went unsold two times consecutively during auctions.
Despite being overlooked for T20 World Cup, as well as upcoming trips to Scotland and England, Smith remains upbeat.
“In terms of international T20s, I don’t know what’s going on there,” said Steve Smith.
“They’ve obviously got some people they want to bring in, and that’s fine.”
“I understood the way that they wanted to stack up for the World Cup with all these strong guys that smack it miles away. And I was okay with that.”
“It doesn’t matter much to me. I will just do my job while trying to become better and more skilful.”
Asked if he is considering competing for gold at Los Angeles Olympics 2028, Steve Smith replied: That’s still a while away as well, so we’ll wait and see. Never say never.
“I did watch quite a bit (of the Paris Olympics). I quite enjoyed it.”
