'If he opens the batting, he will be leading run scorer at T20 World Cup': Clarke's bold statement on 33-year-old star

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke spoke in detail about the batter and his poor ‘treatment’.

As the T20 World Cup nears, all teams are making final adjustments to their squads and preparations for the marquee tournament. While Team India had faced a twin-setback with injuries to Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah, Pakistan, too, are fretting over Shaheen Afridi's recovery for the World Cup. Australia, meanwhile, will aim to defend the title but many experts believe that the side will be missing Cameron Green at the tournament, who produced impressive performances in the recently-concluded T20I series against India.

File image of Michael Clarke. (Getty Images)

However, former Australia captain Michael Clarke has lashed out at the team management for their poor treatment of senior star Steve Smith. The 33-year-old star batter wasn't picked in the XI for the first T20I of the series against England and Clarke believes if Smith opens the batting for Australia, he could be a top-run getter at the World Cup.

“Like, they took Steve Smith to Western Australia. Flew him to Perth to make him 12th man - that’s not right,” Clarke said, as quoted by FOX Sports Australia.

“If he opens the batting, he will be the leading run-scorer in the T20 World Cup. He’s still that good a player.”

Further talking about Australia's batting order, Clarke said that if the side sticks with Smith at 4, it will have a player who can bail Australia out of tough spots.

“The number four position is the unknown... who’s batting at four,” Clarke said.

“If it’s Smitty(Smith) , you’ve got to give him some cricket. As good as he is, I’d rather him walk out in the first game in the first World Cup game with some form, with some runs under his belt.

“I think that’s the position that they’re unsure of at the moment and that’s really going to come down to the style.

“My reason always for (including) someone like a Steve Smith in your team is because not all conditions are the same, if we lose two for not many, you’ve got one of the world’s best batsmen coming in,” he said.