3 areas of concern for Australia after defeat to India in 2023 World Cup
It was the tournament's first match for both teams, and host India managed to get past Australia on October 8 in the 2023 World Cup.
On a classic Chepauk wicket that had enough grip and turned on it, Ravindra Jadeja ran through the Australian middle order before Virat Kohli and KL Rahul stitched a 165-run partnership to bail out the host after a shaky start with the bat.
While India won't mind being tested in deep waters so early in the 2023 World Cup to prepare themselves for similar scenarios in the knockouts if they qualify, Australia would be rueing letting go of their chances in this match from certain positions of command.
For Australia, there are some areas of concern regarding their tactics, and some of the decisions are questionable.
In this article, we will look at some of the areas in which Australia will have to rethink and work upon in order to win their sixth ODI World Cup.
3 areas of concern for Australia in 2023 World Cup
#3. Struggle against spinners in middle overs
It was very evident that Australian batsmen do struggle against spinners.It happens especially on surfaces which are a touch drier with ample turn and bounce for spinners. Most Aussie batters were seen reading the deliveries from the pitch rather than from the bowler's hand.
They lost six wickets to spinners, which was acceptable on this surface. However, post the 2019 World Cup, this has been a rather frequent occurence.
Since the end of the 2019 World Cup, Australia find themselves sixth in the list of World Cup teams in terms of scoring against spinners with a run-rate of 5.4, with South Africa leading with 6.4 runs per over.
Also, Australia fails to find boundaries continuously in middle overs against spinners with a boundary per ball ratio of 12.8, while England tops the chart with a boundary per ball ratio of 8.8.
If Australia will have to bounce back stronger in 2023 World Cup upcoming matches, they do need to find ways to score freely against spinners with some of the skilled spin-playing players like Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell leading the charge.
#2. Carey and Zampa's lean patch needs to end soon
On a surface that was very much to the liking of Chepauk, Adam Zampa was very sporadic with his lengths and never seemed to be in his zone. He bowled almost 73% on shorter of good lengths, which gave enough time for the batsmen to wait for the turn.
Actually, Zampa's recent form has been either boom or bust, with him giving runs at an average of 51.2 and an economy of 7.7 in 2023, and Australia can’t afford that. In fact, now that Ashton Agar is ruled out of the 2023 World Cup, the five-time champions would want him to have a 20-plus wicket sort of tournament. And Zampa is very capable of doing so.
Also, the lack of runs from Alex Carey will also be on the minds of Australian management, who will be tempted to play infield wicketkeeper Josh Inglis.
The thing that Carey provides as a left-arm option in the middle order is forcing the management to give him a longer rope, but that's not going to last longer if he continues to waste his opportunities in a big tournament like the 2023 World Cup.
#1. Failed to arrest the collapse
In recent times, what we have seen with this Australian unit is that, despite being in the driver's seat, it falters on most occasions in the latter phase of the innings with a collapse.
Against India also, from 110/2, when it seemed like they would post a challenging score of 250–260, they suddenly found themselves reeling at 140/7 and later got bundled out for 199.
This has been a pattern going around for them post-2019 World Cup, especially since 2022, where they have failed to capitalize on the strong foundation given by the top order and faced as many as nine collapses in ODIs.
If Australia wants to bounce back in the 2023 World Cup, they will need to work on this aspect sincerely.