How Australia's clutch mentality has paid them rich dividends at the ICC T20 WC 2021
Australia's clutch mentality has come to the fore in the team's unexpected run to the final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
Back in February 2021, when India steamrolled England in Ahmedabad in the third Tet of their home series, former England player Darren Gough went on to say:
The mentality of this India now is like Australia in the 90s: get a team by the throat and win, win, win.
There is no need to remind anyone that the Australia he compared India to is one of the greatest ever squads assembled in the history of cricket. That was an Australian side that gave nightmares to anyone they played against.
The very fact that 30 years later, they are still held as the yardstick for measuring the mentality of a team means a lot. In the three intervening decades, Australian cricket has changed a lot.
Along with Australia, other countries have changed their way of cricket too. The Aussies are no longer the only team that stares opposition teams down. They are no longer an unbreachable fortress they were back in the days.
However, there is one thing Australia have still preserved from that 90's team: their elite mentality. Not the brutal part of it that grabs teams by the throat, but just the part of knowing how to win in the most crucial of moments.
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Sure, they might not win every game they play. They're still nowhere close to the team they were in the 90s. Other teams have caught up in terms of exposure and facilities. We may never again see a team like that team again in our lives.
That's not a sad fact in and of itself. It's just the passage of time and how the game has evolved. But in the current Australian team, we can still see remnants of the 90s team's mentality.
Were they one of the top two sides to appear in the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup? Of course not. Even the most hardcore of Australian fans would not believe that statement. Australia being a top-4 team in the tournament in terms of individual talents available in the squad is a hard shout.
Australia know when to win and importantly, how
Despite their shortcomings, Australia are in the T20 World Cup 2021 final. And that is no mere accident.
Sure, Hasan Ali missed a crucial catch that could have spelt the end of their hopes. Pakistan missed a couple of runouts that the Australian batters themselves had given up on. But all that comes under this word: mentality.
Pakistan squandered their chances, and Australia capitalised on them. It is as simple as that, and so much more harder to do than it sounds.
You would have thought that if one team could make 176 look enough, it was Pakistan. But this Australian team has just got better and better as the tournament has progressed.
Matthew Wade had the audacity to scoop two balls off a bowler capable of bowling as quick as Shaheen Afridi is mentality. Warner coming back into form after being sidelined for two whole months by his IPL team is mentality. Pat Cummins bowling a 19th over that went for only three runs is mentality.
All of that involves talent. A lot of it. But that doesn't mean that has nothing to do with mentality. Talent would not have mattered if these players did not have the mentality to make use of it.
Requiring 62 runs off the last five overs, Australia would have lost the game if they didn't have the right mentality. The match would have been lost had the players begun to think so.
Most teams have the talent to pull off a heist like this, but few have the mentality to do so. That is why it is important for Australia to have Justin Langer in charge, someone who can show them how to do that.
And if India have to learn one thing from Rahul Dravid as their new head coach, it would be having that elite mentality. Knowing how to win the most crucial of junctures.