While Steve Smith is certainly a legend in the longest format of the game, his role in T20s is still debatable. Steve Smith's name on the team sheet even in T20 cricket will bring a bigger aura with it than somebody like a Mitchell Marsh even today. However, when you sit down to pick the strengths and weaknesses of both the players, you would end up picking Mitchell Marsh as a much more valuable player.
That said, anchors in the batting order like Steve Smith and Virat Kohli still hold a lot of relevance in T20 cricket. Still, Smith hasn't really set the stage on fire in the shortest format of the game.
Even in the IPL, where he is with Delhi Capitals, Smith does not get a consistent run in the team.
He was part of Australia's T20 World Cup winning team but there as well, he played more of a support role to the big hitters around him.
This is what the batsman had to say about his role in T20 cricket.
"Even throughout the IPL there was a lot of really scrappy cricket, not huge scores, which made the games pretty interesting and quite close," Smith said. "Slightly different to a lot of T20 cricket, quite often it's flat wickets and big scores, so you have to change slight ways you play and adapt according to what's required on that surface. It's been interesting so far. It's a little bit different to what I've played previously, but my job basically is to fix it if our top order doesn't come off."
"If our top order does go well the likelihood is I'll slide slightly down the order and let our big strong boys go out and attack it. Think I've done it pretty well in the first couple of trial games and our first game. Think you need the ability to get off strike, manipulate the ball to certain areas more than just the power. Some of these wickets even the powerful blokes have struggled to hit sixes so you need some smarts about you, playing the situation, and having the ability to limit dot balls."
It wouldn't come as a surprise if gradually Smith first lets go of T20 cricket and then ODI cricket in due course to focus on red-ball cricket.
