Australian Cricket is known for dominating the opposition across the formats but ever since the outbreak of Covid-19 they have failed miserably. In 2020 Australia became the No.1 T20I ranked side for the first time and it looked like Australia is going in the right direction Australia then lost 5 Consecutive T20I Series.
- England defeated Australia by 2-1 in England 2020
- India defeated Australia by 2-1 in Australia 2020
- New Zealand defeated Australia by 3-2 in New Zealand 2021
- West Indies defeated Australia by 4-1 in West Indies 2021
- Bangladesh defeated Australia by 4-1 in Bangladesh 2021
In all these T20I Series Australia have found a way to gift the match to the opponent. As the T20 World Cup is knocking the door Australia is in tatters as they don’t know their playing 11 nor do they have their spots finalized. Their recent defeats against West Indies & Bangladesh augurs that they are failing to pick the spinners & their shot selection is nowhere great.
There is uncertainty regarding Steven Smith’s participation in T20 World Cup as he is nursing an elbow injury as a player of his class is required in tacky conditions of UAE. If Smith doesn’t play then Mitchell Marsh would cement his place. Mitchell Marsh was the alone batsman in the batting department in the tours of West Indies & Bangladesh who accumulated runs. Australia has problems of finding the finisher as they have tried “n” players and recently against West Indies & Bangladesh they tried the veteran Daniel Christian who didn’t perform according to his reputation & credentials.
The pace department of Australia is red hot but how they manage would be critical as playing Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood & Patrick Cummins would affect their work-load. The spin department is quite good with the spin duo of Ashton Agar & Adam Zampa. Australia’s bowlers most of the time have been good and they have been led down by batsmen which is unacceptable as the morale of bowlers takes a huge drop.
Australia is going to face England, South Africa, West Indies & two teams which will qualify from the T20 World Cup Qualifiers. If Australia wants to make it to the knock out stages & win the World Cup then they have to pull of a heist as all these 3 teams are a force to reckon with. Every-time Warner & Finch won’t win the games & the same applies with Starc, Cummins & Hazlewood. It can be said that if Australia win the T20 World Cup it would be an upset.
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