New Delhi: England cricketer Jamie Smith has said that missing the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 could turn as a blessing in disguise for him. Even after registering himself for the 2026 mini-auction, Smith was not picked by any of the franchises with the Englishman keeping his base price at Rs 2 crore.

What led to him being unsold at the IPL auction was his disappointing run during England’s 1-4 Ashes loss against Australia Down Under. Smith said on Wednesday that he is trying to focus on red-ball cricket and he would be aiming to improve his performance ahead of England’s Test summer. Smith just scored 211 runs with one half-century in the five Test matches during the Ashes series.

He only did not lose his place in the cash-rich league but was subsequently dropped from England’s white-ball squads for the Sri Lanka tour and the following T20 World Cup. During this tough period, the England batter took an extended break and aims at utlising this opportunity to improve his red-ball game ahead of England’s Test series against New Zealand in June.

His improvement in red-ball cricket will directly impact his performance in the white-ball matches as well. Speaking at Surrey’s pre-season media day, Smith said he would have loved to go to the IPL as
he considers it an opportunity to improve his white-ball game, which could also benefit his red-ball game.

However, he now considers this lost opportunity as a chance to work on his red-ball skills at The Oval ahead of the County Championship season.

‘It’s been nice to come at The Oval and work on a couple of things and then I’ll be able to hopefully implement them, for six or seven County Championship games, and we’ll see where we get to if there’s any England stuff after that. But, yeah, it’s nice to have a little block to try and get things right.’