Australia's T20 World Cup campaign 'doomed from the get-go': 'Steve Smith most baffling non-selection, insult to him'

Mark Waugh said that Australia's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign was doomed from the get-go due to selection issues.

Australia's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign came to a premature end on Tuesday. The Group B match between Zimbabwe and Ireland was abandoned due to rain in Pallekele, and this led to Mitchell Marsh's side crashing out of the tournament. Former Australian batter Mark Waugh said that the team's campaign was doomed from the “get-go” due to the injury concerns and selection issues. The 2021 champions' campaign derailed even before the first ball was bowled as experienced campaigners Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were ruled out due to injuries.

Steve Smith was a late addition in Australia's squad for the T20 World Cup. (AFP)

The entire world then urged the national selector George Bailey to make the most of Steve Smith's form in the Big Bash League (BBL), but the plea fell on deaf ears. The seasoned batter was only added to the squad at the last minute, before the do-or-die match against Sri Lanka, and he came into the squad as a replacement for Hazlewood. However, he did not feature in the playing XI.

After the loss to Sri Lanka, Australia's hopes of reaching the Super 8s depended on Ireland beating Zimbabwe. However, once the game got rained off, Zimbabwe raced past them on points, making Australia's last game against Oman inconsequential.

“I think that the whole campaign was doomed from the get-go with selection issues and injuries. To me, the non-selection of Steve Smith in the squad originally is the most baffling non-selection I can remember for ages,” Waugh said on SEN radio in Australia after the defeat against Sri Lanka.

“I just think they've got the selections completely wrong and to have your best player by 100 yards sitting on the sideline in Steve Smith ... I think it's an insult to ‌Steve Smith, to be honest,” he added.

Second group-stage exit for Australia

This is the second time in T20 World Cup history that Australia have been eliminated in the group stage, the first being in 2009. Even if Ireland had defeated Zimbabwe, Australia would still have had to defeat Oman by a big margin and then hope for a Sri Lankan victory over Zimbabwe.

Waugh was quite critical of the selectors not picking Smith in the squad despite him scoring runs for fun in the BBL for the Sydney Sixers.

"Smith's an outstanding fielder. He's a great player of spin. He should have been first picked, and he wasn't picked in the squad… then he wasn't even picked as a replacement, and then they've got him over there, and they still haven't played him," Waugh said.

“The selectors have their plans in place, but you've got to be smart enough to see which players are in form and which players are out of form, and you've got to play the percentages a lot better than what our selectors have played at the moment. It's just been baffling,” he added.

Australia, who won the 2021 T20 World Cup, have now failed to make it to the semi-finals in the last three editions of the tournament.