The unseen photo was taken during their visit to India to promote their 2017 action movie 'xXx: Return of Xander Cage'
Australia batting spearhead Steve Smith is hopeful of recovering in time from an elbow injury for this year’s Twenty20 World Cup but says he will skip the tournament if needed to be fully fit for the team’s Ashes defence against England at home.
Former captain Smith was ruled out of Australia’s limited-overs tour of the West Indies and Bangladesh with a left elbow injury, with the team scheduled to play five T20 and three one-day internationals in the Caribbean this month followed by five T20 matches in Bangladesh in August.
The T20 World Cup will be played in the UAE and Oman from Oct. 17 to Nov. 14, having been shifted from India due to the Covid-19 pandemic there.
“There’s still a bit of time between now and (the T20 World Cup), and I’m tracking OK at the moment. It’s slow, but I’m going OK,” Smith told Cricket Australia’s website (cricket.com.au).
“I’d love to be part of the World Cup, for sure, but from my point of view, test cricket, that’s my main goal: to be right for the Ashes and try to emulate what I’ve done in the last few Ashes series I’ve been involved in.”
The 2019 Ashes series in England ended in a 2-2 draw with the Australians holding on to the trophy having blanked their arch-rivals 4-0 when the five-match contest was last held Down Under.
Australia will meet Afghanistan in a single test in late November before the first of the five-match Ashes series begins on Dec. 8 in Brisbane.
The 32-year-old Smith, who is ranked second in the list of top test batsmen in the world, has a staggering record with the bat in one of the world’s most high-profile cricket series.
He has hit eight hundreds and scored close to 2,000 runs in 14 tests across the past three Ashes.
“I want to put myself in a position where I can have that kind of impact,” Smith said. “If that does mean not partaking in the World Cup, then we’ll have to go down that path, but hopefully we don’t have to go there.
“I’ve made a bit of progress with it the last few weeks. I started some batting, just 10 minutes at a time, and basically my path now to getting back to playing is building up from there.
“The Ashes is the primary focus from my point of view, (so) I need to be in a position where I can bat for long periods of time, and at the moment I can’t do that, which is annoying.”
The unseen photo was taken during their visit to India to promote their 2017 action movie 'xXx: Return of Xander Cage'
From exploring the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi to Easter brunches, there are several things to do in the UAE this weekend
The film is a tense thriller about a group of journalists documenting societal collapse
One song has a reference to the groundbreaking country performer who became the first Black woman to play the 'Grand Ole Opry'
The Oscar-nominated actress is no stranger to big-budget films
In the film, Tabu, Kareena, and Kriti are essaying the roles of daring and mischievous air hostesses
Having effortlessly transitioned into acting, Fouzia's debut film swiftly captured global acclaim, earning accolades at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival
Parag, who reached his 50 off 34 balls, cracked 25 runs with three fours and two sixes off the final over bowled by star South Africa paceman Anrich Nortje