Steve Smith's manager dismisses former Australia captain's retirement talks

Australian batsman Steve Smith has no plans to retire from Test cricket yet, his manager Warren Craig has said, adding, the cricketer is "talking about things he wants to achieve". Smith, one of the modern greats, is part of the Australian squad preparing to take on Pakistan in a three-match Test series this summer.

Rumors about Smith's retirement started floating after David Warner announced that he'd retire from Tests after the Pakistan series. But now, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, Smith's manager has rubbished all such rumours, saying he had no plans to follow Warner into retirement.

"I can debunk that (retirement) at this point. He is still talking about things he wants to achieve," said Smith's manager as quoted by Sydney Morning Herald.

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Smith, the current world number 3 batter in Test cricket, has scored 9320 runs so far in the format averaging a brilliant 58.62 per innings. With only 680 runs away from the 10,000-run mark, Smith is now looking forward to the Pakistan series, which begins on December 14.

In six months, Australia will also take part in the T20 Cricket World Cup in the US and the Caribbean.

As far as his form is concerned, in the recently concluded ODI World Cup, Smith scored 302 runs in 10 innings at an average of 33.55 with two fifties.

In Test cricket, Smith has averaged 50 since the start of 2022. While that's remarkable for any batter, many see it as a sign of decline. The reason? It's not up to the standards the batsman has set for himself.

Meanwhile, former Australia captain Mark Taylor has said that Smith might experience another brilliant run in Tests, but cricketers of his age seldom improve. “It doesn’t mean they’re done, but normally you’ve seen their best by then,” Taylor said. “The early 30s would be the purple patch for most players.”