ICC T20 World Cup 2026: Steve Smith added to Australia squad as replacement for Josh Hazlewood

Former Australian skipper Steve Smith has been named as replacement for the injured pacer Josh Hazlewood, hours before his side's crunch ICC T20 World Cup 2026 match against Sri Lanka in Colombo

The 36-year-old thus becomes the 15th member of the injury-hit Australia squad.

"Smith is named as a replacement for Hazlewood, who is now officially ruled out from participating in the tournament due to a calf injury. The team's medical staff had hoped to have him fit in time to feature in the latter parts of the tournament but were unsuccessful," the ICC said in a media release.

Smith had earlier been flown to Sri Lanka as cover for skipper Mitchell Marsh, who missed Australia's opening two matches due to a testicular injury.

The veteran batter trained with the squad on Sunday (February 15) and is in contention to feature in the crucial clash.

Smith has not played a T20I since February last year but has been in good form in the format in domestic competitions.

In positive signs for the 2021 champions, Marsh too has returned to training. The skipper batted in the nets while also taking part in running and fielding drills on Sunday.

Australia's ICC T20 World Cup 2026 campaign is hanging in the balance following their shock 23-run loss to Zimbabwe, and they must beat Sri Lanka on Monday (February 16) to avoid an early exit.

The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.

The Event Technical committee of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 comprises Wasim Khan (Chair, ICC General Manager - Cricket), Gaurav Saxena (ICC General Manager – Events & Corporate Communications, IBC representative), Hemang Amin (Tournament Director, host representative) and Shaun Pollock (Independent nominee).

(With ICC Media inputs)