Steve Smith talks about Australia's disappointing World T20 campaign

Australia failed to qualify for the knockout stage of the T20 World Cup in India. The champions of the 50 over format haven't won the World T20 title yet and according to pundits and supporters, the attempt to turn David Warner into a middle order batsman was one of the key reasons behind their poor show. Warner initially was successful while batting at the No.3 position in Australia’s three-match T20I tour of South Africa but the tactic backfired in the global event. The aggressive left-handed batsman only scored 38 runs in four innings at an average of 9.50.

However, since Warner moved back to his familiar opening position for his Indian Premier League team, the Sunrisers Hyderabad, he has been in sensational touch. The 29-year-old has led from the front and has already scored 567 runs in the tournament at an average of 56.70 and with a strike-rate of 155.76.

Australian skipper Steve Smith admitted that Warner bats at his best as an opener but doesn’t believe that it wasn’t the sole reason for the team’s early exit from the tournament.

In a recent interview, Smith spoke about the decision to rejig the batting position in the team to Fox Sports News, “He’s probably best suited at the top of the order", referring to Warner's position in the XI.

“We had our best six batters playing. Obviously, Usman Khawaja had been batting particularly well and Aaron Finch, he’s been playing well over in the IPL as well.”

Smith added, “We had plenty of options and I decided on Davey to bat at number three in the end. He had his opportunities to score runs as well and we just didn’t bat as well as we would have liked in the middle order to get ourselves the totals we needed to win games in India.”

A disappointing World T20 campaign

When asked about how he felt about the campaign Smith added, “It was disappointing. I thought we had the team to give that tournament a real shake.”

The Aussie captain is back in Australia after picking up a wrist injury in the ongoing IPL. He also had a good tournament as he scored 270 runs at an average of 45 and with a strike-rate of 153.40 but unfortunately, he lasted for only 8 matches.

Smith also spoke about his injury, “I’ve always said that I want to be 100 percent right as much as I can to play for Australia and it was an opportunity to give it a rest and it’s feeling really good.”