Published: Mar 29, 2016, 12:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 29, 2016, 01:10 PM (IST)
Australia are one of those cricketing nations who put their rich history and cricketing pride at the right place: their actions on and off the field are orchestrated to guarantee success over a long period of time. The current side, despite having lost the Ashes to England, is world No. 1 in Test cricket and sits pretty at the top spot in ODIs as well. However, Twenty20 cricket remains grossly ignored, and the results haven’t been encouraging at all, despite their Big Bash League (BBL) growing many folds over the past few years. Placed at a lowly sixth spot in ICC Rankings, Australia had a forgettable outing in the T20 World Cup, with their journey coming to an end after the defeat to India in the first round. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Australia, Super 10 Group 2, Match 31 at Mohali
The Australian pride would be seriously dented if they are knocked out of a global tournament in the first round itself. But not in T20 cricket, only because they have not started with it yet.
In hindsight, it would have been really daft to have put any hopes on this Australian side to win the T20 World Cup 2016. Not because they do not have enough firepower, but their actions have not been yielding enough to guarantee them success. There were some ridiculously tough selections calls taken during the tournament, which proved horribly wrong.
Aaron Finch is world No. 1 batsman in T20 cricket, and till some time ago, was Australia’s T20 captain. But the fact that he played only two matches out of four in the T20 World Cup highlights Australia’s botched up thinking and execution as far as T20 cricket is concerned. Finch is an opening batsman and has a rich experience of the Indian conditions, being a regular feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL). But ironically, those who got the nod ahead of Finch too made runs; it was Australia’s middle-order that let them down.
The lack of runs from their best batsmen — Steven Smith and David Warner — was the real reason for Australia’s downfall. Smith scored in total 83 runs in 4 games, and Warner had an atrocious time, with 38 runs in 4 games. You know you are in deep trouble if your No. 3 and 4 are scoring as horribly as Smith and Warner did in the T20 World Cup 2016. ALSO READ: Australia’s exit from T20 World Cup marks end of another successful association with bowling coach Craig McDermott
For Smith, the innings of 61 against Pakistan will help him save face. This was his second T20I fifty, and came at the right time. Smith’s innings propelled Australia to a total in excess of 190, and everyone thought they have finally arrived. Unfortunately not. The game against India was always going to be a tough one, and Australia, despite putting all they had in the process to win, could not succeed.
It will be tough to decide who was more unfortunate: Finch or Warner? They used to open for Australia till a certain point of time, but Usman Khawaja barged into the scene with heaps of runs and he got an opening slot. Finch, the No. 1 batsman was ignored for Khawaja. And what turned out to be an obnoxious experiment — which even worked for a while — Warner was regularly moved up and down in the middle-order. The experiment worked in South Africa, but not in India where Warner notched up scores of 6, 17, 9 and 6.
Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner were looked up as bowling all-rounders more than batting. They too have rich IPL experience, but Maxwell’s double duties of scoring quick runs and helping as second spinner proved too much for him. And Faulkner is increasingly becoming more of a bowler than a batsman who can score at brisk rate.
Adam Zampa was the discovery of the tournament, but Ashton Agar got lost somewhere along the way after the thrashing he received from Martin Guptill in the first game. Zampa’s control over the ball, his ability to deceive the batsmen and knack to get wickets are the qualities that can take him ahead, provided Australia invest time and faith in him. Agar’s case, on the other hand, is increasingly becoming worrisome.
Along the way, Shane Watson announced retirement from T20 Internationals, and Craig McDermott had already declared that he would leave the camp post the T20 World Cup 2016. Smith, Warner and Darren Lehmann are yet to have a settled side so that they can embark on a long run in their tenures.
Australia’s T20 season began with a defeat to India at home, an away series win in South Africa and an ordinary World T20 2016 campaign. The team has almost all the talent it would need to improve their fortunes in international T20s, but the question falls upon the need, if they really want it or not.
(Devarchit Varma is senior writer with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)
