Star Australia batter Steve Smith has made a comeback to the Indian T20 League as a commentator. The talismanic batter has joined one of the broadcasters for the 16th season of the tournament. The tournament is set to kick off on March 31 with Chennai taking on defending champion Gujarat in the opening game. However, before the tournament, Smith picked his top four teams to qualify for the playoffs this season.
Smith in an interaction with the TV broadcasters of the marquee event has said that His insights into the game will help people to understand the conditions with a better preview. He also said that he is excited to join the immense team of expert TV broadcasters. Smith said, “I think I read the game pretty well so hopefully there will be some good insights for all the people watching Indian T20 League out there. I’m certainly excited about joining the TV broadcasters Team and I’m looking forward to this new experience.”
Smith was further asked to name his top four teams for the season. The southpaw picked MS Dhoni’s Chennai as the most favorite team while choosing defending champions Gujarat in the second spot. The 34-year-old batter further picked Lucknow and Hyderabad as the other two teams to qualify for the playoffs. Notably, Smith led Australia in the recently concluded ODI series against India. They won the series by 2-1.
Fans will miss batter Steve Smith
The Australian superstar will be missed by the fans for the upcoming season of the Indian T20 League. He last played for Delhi in 2021 after leading the inaugural season winners in the previous editions of the tournament. In the 14th edition of the tournament, Smith played eight games for Delhi and scored just 186 runs in the eight innings.
Smith in his Indian T20 League career has played 103 matches for almost six teams in 10 years. Smith has scored 2485 runs at an average of 34.51 and with a strike rate over 130. It includes one century and 11 half-centuries. He has led teams like Rajasthan and Pune during 2015-2020. Meanwhile, fans react to his prediction for the top four teams. A Twitter user said, “Hum aapko seriously nhi lete.”
Here are some Tweets:
RCB fans to Steve Smith pic.twitter.com/G7NivzuuPM
— ? (@SarcasticCowboy) March 29, 2023
CSK, GT, RR and MI I reckon.
— Sujal (@Sujal_Pandey07) March 29, 2023
— DhruvLathia (@dhruvlathia2) March 29, 2023
He picked irrelevant team AssHaarGay and left out champion Mi. ??????
— Factos (@I_say_factos) March 29, 2023
My 4 teams
Mi
Csk
Gt
Lsg
These 4 teams will qualify with Mi or Csk being the table topper and Mi wins their 6th title ????????— Suraj Karkera ?? (@suraj_karkera3) March 29, 2023
All perfect, But I think in place of LSG or/and GT I'll put RR/RCB/MI
— Smit Manore (@smitmanore) March 29, 2023
#LSG will not quality this time . Last year they were lucky that CSK and MI were not in form . This time #LSG will finish at last
— CricOnClick ? (@CricOnClick) March 29, 2023
He is test player so obviously he will pick csk
— GOD??45™ (@R45xMi) March 29, 2023
RCB will definitely reach in Top4.
— DK (@CricCrazyDK) March 29, 2023
Nobody picks HaarCB ? pic.twitter.com/9un5zSg9Tm
— ??? (@hrathod__) March 29, 2023
#chakkaSRK pic.twitter.com/f84smaqV3Y
— King 18 (@10LCR1) March 29, 2023
That's why he isn't playing IPL ?
— H I M A N S H U ? (@himro45) March 29, 2023
Bc rcb bhi keragi qualify
Pichlae 3 sal sai ker reahi hai
Smith ki mkb— Ashish. (@____ashish_m) March 29, 2023
It's T20 tournament not Test??
— Abhishek Pandey?? (@sportifiedabhi) March 29, 2023
