After losing his Australia T20I place last year, he made a stunning comeback to the BBL with a century at the SCG.
In order to continue his short-form career and make a return to Australia's T20 lineup for the Los Angeles Games, Steven Smith has set his sights on the 2028 Olympics.
Smith's unaffected 121 from 64 balls on Saturday helped the Sydney Sixers against the Perth Scorchers in the BBL, and it was one of his finest T20 innings to date.
In his knock, Australia's former T20 skipper broke seven sixes, impacting the Scorchers' bowling and using creativity to cross the short boundary.
In recent years, Smith has mostly vanished from T20 cricket, and he failed to appear in Australia's squad for the T20 World Cup last year. The only franchise cricket he played for last year was for Washington in the USA's Major League Cricket, and he has also been skipped over in the last four IPL auctions.
However, Smith's BBL success continues to show that he is one of the nation's top T20 openers, as he has collected three centuries in his earlier 7 matches. Smith had only played 32 games against McDermott's 100, but the three tons put him on par with McDermott for the most in tournament history.
"I'd like to play in the Olympics, I reckon that would be cool," added Smith. "We'll see how far my long-form cricket journey takes me. However, I think that after I finish, I will play short-form cricket for a bit. You never know. Many good young kids are doing very well.
Smith will be 39 when cricket makes its Olympic return in 2028, the first time the sport has been included since 1900, when only France and Great Britain competed.
Smith didn't do any T20 preparation going into Saturday's game; his only hit against the white ball as the India Test series came just fifteen minutes before the BBL game.
In T20, he has only ever played as an opener, and the longer the match lasts, the greater his record generally gets. Additionally, Smith believes his game could get even better in the years to come as he is likely to have the chance to focus only on the 20-over format.
"I find the more I play back-to-back games you get in sync with the game," Smith said. I don't think I played my first 10 balls extremely well, even on Saturday. Considering how the wicket was playing, I think I was putting slightly too much power.
