Dubai, Feb 16 (IANS) Veteran batter Steve Smith has been officially added to Australia’s T20 World Cup squad ahead of a must-win encounter against Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele on Monday evening.

Smith took pacer Josh Hazlewood’s spot in the squad, as the Aussies had delayed naming any replacement for the experienced right-armer, who was ruled out of the tournament earlier this month due to a calf injury.

The 36-year-old batter hasn’t played a T20I for Australia in almost two years. His most recent appearance in the shortest format coming against New Zealand in Auckland in February 2024.

“The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 has approved Steve Smith as a replacement for Josh Hazlewood in the Australia squad,” the ICC said in a statement on Monday.

“Smith is named as a replacement for Hazlewood, who is now officially ruled out from participating in the tournament due to a calf injury. The team’s medical staff had hoped to have him fit in time to feature in the latter parts of the tournament but were unsuccessful,” it added.

Smith trained with the squad in Kandy on Sunday evening after arriving in Sri Lanka in recent days as cover for opener Mitchell Marsh, who missed Australia’s first two matches with a testicular injury.

Moreover, Marsh also returned to training on Sunday, moving freely during running and fielding drills as he pushes to make his comeback against the tournament co-hosts at Pallekele Stadium on Monday evening.

The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.

The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 consists of Wasim Khan (Chair, ICC General Manager – Cricket), Gaurav Saxena (ICC General Manager – Events & Corporate Communications, IBC representative), Hemang Amin (Tournament Director, host representative) and Shaun Pollock (Independent nominee).

Australia suffered a shock loss to Zimbabwe on Friday and will likely need to win both their remaining Group B matches during the group stage to progress to the Super Eights phase.

–IANS

bc/