"If that means not partaking in the World Cup, we'll have to go down that path" - Injured Steve Smith prioritizing Ashes return

On the road to recovery from his left elbow injury, star Australia batsman Steve Smith is prioritizing the Ashes over the T20 World Cup scheduled for October-November this year. The 32-year-old even pulled out of the forthcoming West Indies and Bangladesh tours to nurse the tendon injury.

Steve Smith is making slow progress, batting 15 minutes every day to warm up his left arm. While being fully fit for the home Ashes at the end of the year is his first priority, Smith is not ruling out participating in the World Cup just yet.

“There’s still a bit of time between now and [the T20 World Cup], and I’m tracking okay at the moment – it’s slow, but I’m going okay. I’d love to be part of the World Cup, for sure, but from my point of view, Test cricket, that’s my main goal – to be right for the Ashes and try to emulate what I’ve done in the last few Ashes series I’ve been involved in,” Steve Smith said.

The No. 2 Test batsman was at his imperious best during the 2019 Ashes, scoring 774 runs at an astounding average of 110.57 with three hundreds and as many fifties. While the five-Test series ended in a 2-2 stalemate, Steve Smith is aiming for top honours this time around.

With a little over five months left for the first Ashes Test to begin at the Gabba on December 8, Steve Smith has set his sights on emulating his exploits in England two years ago, even if it comes at the cost of skipping the T20 World Cup.

“I want to put myself in a position where I can have that kind of impact. If that means not partaking in the World Cup, then we’ll have to go down that path, but hopefully we don’t have to go there,” Steve Smith, who has scored 7,540 runs at an average of 61.8 from 77 Tests, added.

Australia will be travelling to the Caribbean to play five T20Is and three ODIs, before coming down to Bangladesh for a five-match T20I series. The T20 World Cup will be preceded by the second half of IPL 2021, ahead of a long Aussie summer comprising of a one-off Test against Afghanistan and the high-octane Ashes series.

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“Taking some painkillers and anti-inflammatories every time I batted” – Steve Smith on his IPL 2021 experience

Steve Smith scored 104 runs in 6 matches for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021

Steve Smith played through pain in his left wrist during the opening phase of IPL 2021. He played six matches for the Delhi Capitals, scoring 104 runs at a modest strike rate of 111.82. He revealed that he had to take painkillers every time before batting.

“I still wasn’t quite 100 percent [during the IPL], it was still bothering me a bit, and I was playing over there medicated – taking some painkillers and anti-inflammatories every time I batted. It got to a point where it wasn’t really improving much, and it probably got a little bit worse while I was over there,” Steve Smith mentioned.

However, by his own admission, he has made “a bit of progress” in the past few weeks and wants to extend his daily batting sessions to 45 minutes before letting the medicos take care of his remaining recovery.

As it stands, the Capitals will miss the services of Steve Smith when the IPL resumes in the UAE in September. Whether he will fly to the Emirates the following month for the T20 World Cup remains to be seen.