Thanks to Afghanistan’s brilliant all-round performance, Australia has been knocked out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. This came as a surprise, as this team, with 5 ODI World Cups and 1 T20I World Cup under their belt, failed to progress to the next stage of the tournament, especially when nearly everyone was expecting to see them progress to the Semi-Final stage of the competition. The Kangaroos had strong opening batters, followed by specialist six hitters, and their main strength was their fast bowling trio. After Australia qualified for Super 8, why did they fail to progress to the Semi-Final stage of the Australia exit from T20 World Cup 2024? Worry not if the same question is going through your head, as we bring you the exact answers.
Ignoring Emerging Talent in Favor of Experience
The Australian team always has talent. No matter how big shoes an Aussie player leaves to fill, someone always waits in line to fill them. In the past, we have seen how Australia quickly found a replacement in Michael Hussey when once-in-a-lifetime finisher Micheal Bevan retired. He went on to be called Mr. Cricket, winning famous matches such as the Semi-Final in 2010 against Pakistan. But this time, Australia refused to trust the young players rising through the ranks, like Jack Fraser McGurk, Jos Inglis, and Nathan Eliss.
JFK had a blinder of an IPL season, scoring 330 runs at an astonishing strike rate of 234.04. With Ricky Ponting, Head Coach of Delhi Capitals, preferring him to David Warner. Australian Selectors decided to stick with the experienced Warner. Not only this, we know that Maxwell had a horrible IPL season. Somehow, he was always played ahead of Jos Inglis. Also, in the latter games, Australia missed the trick by not playing Nathan Eliss in important matches. As his variations and quick arm action could have been tricky to face.
“In T20 cricket, you have to be a bit unorthodox. You can’t just be a classical player.” ~ Glenn Maxwell
Bits and Pieces Players
Both Australian ODI and T20I teams have been struggling lately due to the Bits and Pieces players in their team. This is because quality teams tend to target this weakness in their lineup. It is a major chink in their armor as these players can neither bowl crucial overs nor bat in challenging conditions. Australia should have realized the importance of having specialist batters like Steven Smith, Marnus Labushacage, and Jos Inglis. Even when their bowling is under pump, the four overs to be bowled by the fifth bowler becomes a challenge for the Skipper to manage.
The Captaincy Dilemma
Pat Cummins was at the top of the world with his performances as both Bowler and Captain of the Australian Team. He won the Test Championship and ODI World Cup in hostile territories of England and India. But Cricket Australia came with something surprising. Mitchell Marsh became the Captain to manage Cummins’ workload as a three-format quick and permanent Test captain. This designation rendered him a campaign-by-campaign proposition in the ODI format and an impractical choice in T20I cricket due to frequent rests from bilateral series. If you aim to win a tournament like the Australia exit from the T20 World Cup 2024 exemplifies, your leader must be a calm and composed person with experience. Taking nothing away from Marsh, but changing Captaincy dented the momentum of Australia and halted them from dominating All-Three-Formats.
Undermining the Role of an Anchor
One thing that many Cricket Experts pointed out was Australia not selecting even one anchor in the team. Anchoring in T20 Cricket has been under quite a criticism. Many current greats of the game such as Virat Kohli and Babar Azam have faced constant criticism from Ex players. Critics have targeted them for playing slowly. However, it is in matches such as the one Australia played against Afghanistan. That you realize the importance of Anchors. In low scoring games they nudge it around taking the pressure of the other batters. For instance, Australia did not select Steven Smith, who has won many such matches for them in the last decade. Instead, they relied on their ‘fire power ‘, a term used to describe aggressive and fast-scoring players. This strategy, not giving the chance to anchors, cost Kangaroos dearly in the Australia exit from T20 World Cup 2024.
