Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI:Australian cricket legend Mark Waugh criticized the selectors for not selecting batting veteran Steve Smith in the initial squad for the T20 World Cup, calling it the most baffling non-selection and an insult to the senior batter. A couple of days after being stunned by Zimbabwe in the Group B clash, the 2021 champions suffered another upset loss at the hands of co-host Sri Lanka, who put up a clinical display to progress to the Super Eight stage of the tournament, leaving Australia’s fate out of their hands, having surrendered twice in as many games now.
After leaving Smith out of the squad entirely originally, Australia have pulled the trigger on adding Smith to their squad hours before their crunch match with Sri Lanka, but he was ultimately left out of the playing XI. “I think that the whole campaign was doomed from the get-go with selection issues and injuries. I think preparation hasn’t been great. It’s all unfolded probably the way I thought it would, even though we’re in a pretty weak group,” Waugh told SENQ Breakfast.
“I know you can’t please everybody, and sometimes there are tough calls that can go either way, but to me, the non-selection of Steve Smith in the squad originally is the most baffling non-selection I can remember for ages. I mean, here you’ve got a guy who has looked a class above everybody in the BBL.
“He’s an outstanding fieldsman. He’s a great player of spin. He should have been first picked, and he wasn’t picked in the squad… then he wasn’t even picked as a replacement, and then they’ve got him over there, and they still haven’t played him,” he added.
