Bangalore, April 3, 2023:With Kane Williamson’s injury potentially ruling him out of the TATA IPL 2023, there has been a lot of excitement and buzz as to whether the former Australia cricket captain Steve Smith would make his return to the competition as a replacement for Williamson. Despite expressing uncertainty about his involvement in the IPL, Smith’s name has been trending on Twitter, with fans across the country hoping to see him back on the field. On Star Sports show ‘Cricket Live’, Sanjay Manjrekar shared his thoughts on Steve Smith potentially joining the Gujarat Titans as a replacement for Kane Williamson while Smith reflected on his previous experiences in the IPL and praised the tournament’s growth over the past 15 years.
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, official television broadcasters of the TATA IPL 2023, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar shared his opinion on having Steve Smith play for the Gujarat Titans as a replacement for Kane Williamson, he said “I think that would be a brilliant call, and Steve Smith is the kind of player they want, somebody who can play all kinds of gears. Plus with the new rules which he finds very cool, I’d love to see Smiths captaincy, we saw that and we were raving about it in the India-Australia series. And Hardik Pandya, needs a bit of help, he confessed, ‘I have no idea what my tactics are, so I’m going to leave it to the others.’ So, that could be a great call actually.”
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, Steve Smith spoke about his possible return to the TATA IPL 2023 as a player, he said “I don’t know if I’ll qualify, I didn’t even put myself in the auctions. So I don’t think there’s even a possibility. So, maybe next year, we will see where we go.”
Smith recalled his most cherished memories of playing in the IPL over the years, he said “I think just coming up against the best players around the world, the learning experiences from each of those, sharing dressing rooms with guys like MS Dhoni, Jos Buttler, guys like that, It’s been incredible, and the IPL has just been unbelievable since its start 15 years ago and it just continues to grow and grow.”