Australian cricket star Steve Smith is hoping the Indian Premier League will be held “at some stage” as sports events around the world remain on hold because of the coronavirus.
The cricket calendar has been hit hard by the deadly pandemic, including India’s lucrative and star-studded IPL Twenty20 tournament, which was due to begin on March 29.
The opening match was pushed to April 15 but it is unclear if the this year’s IPL will be played at all or cancelled altogether. “Plenty going on in the world at present, but hopefully we can get an IPL at some stage,” said Smith, in a podcast published by IPL side Rajasthan Royals, which he captains.
“The two seasons that I captained the Royals were both half seasons. Shane Watson gave me the captaincy in 2015 and then last year out of the blue, I took over at the back end of the season,” he added. “Looking at having a crack at it full time and the Royals have a pretty good squad.”
Aside from the IPL, Smith also has his eyes on another big prize: winning a Test series in India.
“As an Australian cricketer - Ashes is always big and World Cups are big,” he told New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi in the Royals podcast.
“But now India is the number one team in the world, it’s a very difficult place to play Test cricket, so I’d love to be able to win a series there,” added Smith, currently the top-ranked Test batsman in the world.
Australia are not scheduled to tour India until 2022.
Smith, 30, was captain of the Australian Test side before he was punished for his role in a ball-tampering scandal in 2018 and hit with a two-year leadership ban. 
That ban expired last month, sparking speculation that he could return to the helm.
Smith is widely considered one of the modern-day giants of batting, having scored 7,227 runs - including 26 centuries - in 73 Tests. 
He had narrowly missed out on his series dream in 2017 when India edged the visiting Australians 2-1 in a bitterly fought campaign. Ricky Ponting remains the only Australian captain to have won a Test series in India - in 2004-05.




Smith excited to see how Jaiswal, Parag would perform in IPL 13

Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith is looking forward to how the younger players in the squad, particularly all-rounder Riyan Parag and batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal, perform in the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League.
Riyan was 17-year-old when he made his IPL debut with the Royals last year and Smith said that he was very much impressed with the freedom with which he batted and recalled the time when he almost dismissed M S Dhoni. “Young 17-year-old kid carrying around his teddy bears. He copped a bit but when he went out to play he did it with such freedom and even won a few games with his own bat. Pretty special, I could just see the joy on his face,” Smith said in an interaction with RR teammate Ish Sodhi on the franchise’s Facebook page.
“He was bowling to M S Dhoni and almost got him out and just the smile on his face when he was bowling was so cool. We’ve been very lucky to have some good young players.”
Smith said that he is also excited to see how Jaiswal would do if and when the season starts. Jaiswal went into the U19 World Cup last year with a lot of hype around him due to his record breaking double-ton in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He ended up taking the World Cup by storm and was the highest scorer in the tournament.
“Jaiswal, he was the top scorer at the U19s and looks a quality player. So, fingers crossed we can get over this year and see all that young talent close up again,” said Smith.
Smith hoped that the situation around the coronavirus pandemic gets normalised quickly and the IPL can happen this year. It was scheduled to start on March 29 but had to be postponed due to the spread of the virus.