{"id":398647,"date":"2024-05-31T04:23:37","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T04:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=398647"},"modified":"2024-05-31T07:04:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T07:04:54","slug":"part-of-the-game-truth-behind-smith-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=398647","title":{"rendered":"'Part of the game': Truth behind Smith snub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Usman Khawaja<\/a> believes Steve Smith<\/a>'s omission from the T20 World Cup<\/a> squad – and the subsequent debate – is a sign of the game's health.<\/p>\n

Smith and Jake Fraser-McGurk were overlooked in the 15-man squad<\/a> for the tournament, which gets underway in the USA and the Carribbean next week. All of Australia's matches are in the Carribbean.<\/p>\n

While Smith has undoubtedly struggled for form in the shorter forms of the game, Josh Hazlewood said his omission would be felt across the team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> What Gutherson said to to the ref after 'nervous' return<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Booze banned at Roland-Garros after player uproar<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Coach clips 'flat' Sharks in 'men against boys' shocker<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Former Test skipper Mark Taylor said he will be missed most when the Aussies get a slow pitch<\/a> – commonplace in the Carribbean.<\/p>\n

But speaking to Wide World of Sports, Khawaja said selection was never going to please everyone, and much more goes into the decisions than the public understand.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

"There's a lot of things that go into cricket \u2026 there's a lot of nuances the general public probably just don't understand as well as the selectors or as the people playing," he said.<\/p>\n

"There's so much going on, no-one's ever going to be fully happy. It's just a part and parcel of the game, and creates headlines and sells newspapers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It's not an easy job, but at the end of the day, that's always a good sign because if you're having trouble leaving players out, it means you've got a healthy, strong system with strong players all vying for spots."<\/p>\n

Fraser-McGurk has been in sensational form in the IPL, while Smith has been able to dig Australia out of holes on countless occasions.<\/p>\n

Khawaja said dropping his Test opening partner was a big call in some respects, but a relatively straightforward one in others.<\/p>\n

\"Delhi<\/p>\n

"He's been such a great player for such a long time, but it was always one of those cases where you have to look at team balance, and it was getting harder to figure out," Khawaja said.<\/p>\n

"You had Marsh, Head, and Warner up the top and then you sort of have to figure out 'well, where do you want to put Smudge? Four?'<\/p>\n

"Is that his best position, or do you think he's better at the top?<\/p>\n

"I'm sure the decision wasn't made lightly \u2013 Smudge had been such a terrific player for such a long time (but) it's just the progression of the game.<\/p>\n

"It's never easy to fit 15 players, and I'm sure it was a very hard decision in a lot of respects.<\/p>\n

"But it's a good time for the Australian cricket team \u2013 there's a lot of players putting their hands up for batting spots."<\/p>\n

It was the same situation for Fraser-McGurk.<\/p>\n

\"Smith<\/p>\n

"When you get into a pressure situation of a tournament, you would always want a little bit more experience than not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I think Fraser is probably only going be a chance to bat in one of the opening slots the way he's going at the moment \u2026 so who do you leave out? Warner or Head?\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Heady's been on fire, then you've got someone like Dave who's got the experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"You don't want to leave experience out when it comes to World Cup situations \u2013 you play clutch matches, you play do-or-die matches and experience normally always trumps that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I think at the moment, it's just about him biding his time."<\/p>\n

Khawaja is the official Prime Video ICC Men's T20 World Cup ambassador.<\/p>\n

Each game of the T20 World Cup, including all of Australia's matches, will be exclusively live on Amazon Prime.<\/p>\n

Australia begins its T20 World Cup campaign against Oman on June 6 (AEST).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Usman Khawaja believes Steve Smith's omission from the T20 World Cup squad – and the subsequent debate – is a sign of the game's health. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":398649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398647"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=398647"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398652,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398647\/revisions\/398652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/398649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=398647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=398647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=398647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}