Australia have won the 50-over World Cup five times. No team has dominated cricket as much as Australia. They have also dominated Test cricket longer than any other side in history. But their T20I record has been a stark contrast, for they are yet to add a T20 World Cup in their illustrious kitty.
Just when we thought the change was falling on us, the absurdity deceived us. It has been a rollercoaster ride for Australia in T20Is since 2019. They won in India and completed a hat-trick of series wins with home victories over Sri Lanka and Pakistan later that year. In early 2020, they won 2-1 in South Africa.
Adding a pinch of brightness to the pandemic and bushfire-ravaged scenes, Australia, for the first time in their cricketing chronicles, climbed to the No.1 spot in the ICC T20I rankings in May 2020.
From being the favourites in the upcoming World Cup at home later that year to suffering their biggest slump, Australia's has been a baffling case.
The pandemic pushed the T20 World Cup in Australia by a year. Once they returned to the sport after the Covid-19-induced break, they lost to England, India, New Zealand, West Indies and Bangladesh. They have lost 15 of their last 21 T20Is, though, to be fair to them, they have not been full-strength in most of them.
David Warner and Pat Cummins have played just one of those five series; Steven Smith, six matches out of 21; Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Kane Richardson missed the West Indies and Bangladesh tours; and captain Aaron Finch missed the disastrous Bangladesh series.
They won their warm-up match against New Zealand and were hammered by India two days later. Even in their win, they have looked far from being convincing.
Despite having their bases covered, they seem to lack the X-factor and the sting.
Australian squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup
Aaron Finch (c), Pat Cummins, Matthew Wade (wk), Josh Inglis (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Ashton Agar
Travel reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams.
Head coach: Justin Langer
T20 World Cup Editions Participated: All six editions since 2007
Best T20 World Cup results: Runners-up in 2010
ICC T20I Ranking: 7
SWOT analysis
Strengths: The Australian line-up is boosted by the return of their stars. The pace bowling unit looks terrific with the experienced trio of Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood. Richardson’s addition helps the death bowling. Even Marsh and Stoinis add variations to the pace unit.
Marsh has been in scintillating form, scoring 649 T20 runs in 2021 at 34, striking at 136. With ball, he has averaged 15.5 and gone at 7.5 per over.
Maxwell’s form, however, makes him key. He was Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) second-most valuable player in the recently concluded IPL. In 2021, he has 806 runs at 31, striking at 147, and 11 wickets at economy rate of 7.5.
Weakness: Australia remain a top-heavy side, and their weakness is their lack of hitters in the death overs. Warner and Finch are openers, Smith prefers to bat in the top four, Marsh got his success at No. 3, and Wade is more successful when he opens.
Even Maxwell has shown a preference for batting inside the top four, where he shone for the RCB in the IPL. In fact, he averages 105 as a T20I opener with a strike rate of 225.
In 2021, Inglis has 783 T20 runs at 43.5, striking at 164, also in the top three. The average and strike rate drops to 32 and 143, respectively, when he bats in the middle order.
How can Australia accommodate all their stars in the top order? Who finishes for them? Will they innovate by demoting the struggling Warner in the middle-order?
Warner’s recent slump has hurt all the teams he has played for. An IPL legend, he lost his Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captaincy, and even his place in the XI, during this rough patch. He averages 24 in T20s this year at a strike rate of 108. His scores in the warm-up matches read 0 and 1.
Finch, his opening partner and captain, has been inconsistent. He has batted well for Australia but been terrible in the BBL, averaging eight. He averages 22 this year at a strike rate of 122.
Opportunity: Warner, Finch, Maxwell and Starc are legends in this format. If they can step and own the tournament, Australia could create history. The T20 World Cup is the only major white-ball silverware absent in their illustrious wardrobe.
This is an opportunity for Australia to show courage and shed off the conservative approach. They can encash on the players’ forms by letting in-form individuals like Maxwell and Inglis play more balls, using Smith and Warner as floaters.
Threats: Balance remains a worry for Australians. Instead of focusing on stars, will they go the New Zealand way of 2016, where they benched Tim Southee and Trent Boult to adopt a horses-for-courses method?
If Australia go the Langer way, with five specialist bowlers, Stoinis will miss out. If Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood all play, where does a death-over specialist like Richardson go?
But can you afford not to pick Hazlewood, who was exceptional in Bangladesh and won the IPL with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) a week back in the same country?
Meanwhile, vice-captain Cummins hasn’t played a T20I since September 2020. He looked rusty in the warm-up match against India, where he gave away 33 runs from his four overs and failed to claim a wicket.
The Australian middle-order is dominated by right-handers. They will be up against the quality of Adil Rashid, Hayden Walsh Jr, Keshav Maharaj, Shakib Al Hasan, Nasum Ahmed and Wanindu Hasaranga, men who will get the ball to turn away from the right-handers on slow turners. Again, could Warner drop down the order?
Stacked against England, West Indies, Bangladesh, South Africa and possibly Sri Lanka, Australia find themselves in a tough group.
All isn’t well in their camp as well, with the Langer controversy still fresh.
Australia’s likely XI: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis/Adam Zampa/Ashton Agar (two of the three), Matthew Wade/Josh Inglis (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood
Australia’s Fixtures:
- Saturday, 23 October: Australia vs South Africa, Abu Dhabi
- Thursday, 28 October: TBD (most likely – Australia vs Sri Lanka), Dubai
- Saturday, 30 October: Australia vs England, Dubai
- Thursday, 4 November: Australia vs Bangladesh, Dubai
- Saturday, 6 November: Australia vs West Indies, Abu Dhabi