T20 World Cup 2022: Five glaring reasons behind Australia's early exit
Ahead of the T20 World Cup, defending champions, the Australian team were firm favorites to qualify for the semi-finals. However, the brand of cricket they presented disappointed the fans of this beautiful sport. Their poor performance has also been reflected in the result as they failed to qualify for the knock-outs in their own den.
Through a layman’s eye, the big defeat against New Zealand dented Australia’s hope of qualifying for the semis. But there are a number of facts that prevented the Australian team from advancing to the next stage of the tournament. Here are five glaring reasons behind team Australia’s early departure from the tournament.
1. Defeat by a big margin against New Zealand
The opening match of the tournament almost gave a glimpse of what was to come later. Australia were outplayed in every department by their neighbors. A big defeat by 89 runs proved to be very costly for the Aussies in the tournament.
Having been asked to bat first, New Zealand set a big target of 201 thanks to Devon Conway’s destructive innings of 92* from 58 deliveries. While the Kiwi batters took a special liking for the Australian bowlers, the sloppy fielding did not help the Aussies either.
In reply, Australia had a horrendous start and lost three wickets inside the power-play. They could only score 111 and their best batter was Glenn Maxwell, who scored only 28. Team Australia’s net run rate took a hit after losing by a big margin.
2. Poor form of David Warner
David Warner is the batting mainstay of the Australian Cricket Team. For years, he has given them explosive starts to set the tone for the innings. Even in the last edition of the T20 World Cup, he was the best batter for Australia. But in this edition, he looked like a pale shadow of his former self.
Warner was adjudged as the player of the tournament and played a significant role in the team's title victory in 2021. However, a complete lack of form was clearly visible in this edition of the T20 World Cup. David Warner's scores in the showpiece event read 5, 11, 3 and 25.
3. Unimpressive batting display from Australia
Although Warner's pale batting performance caught the attention of fans, some key batters also failed to impress the fans with their batting efforts. Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Tim David and Mathew Wade all failed to shine with the bat.
Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell are the two names in the Australian team who have been consistent. While Stoinis accumulated 126 runs from 4 matches with a strike rate of 161.53, Maxwell scored 118 runs from a similar number of matches with a strike rate of 161.64.
Captain Aaron Finch played a solitary good knock of 63 against Ireland. He failed to produce similar innings in the other two matches. In fact, he played one of the slowest innings of the tournament against Sri Lanka, wherein he scored 31 from 42 deliveries. His tournament strike rate was 110.3, which is way below-par.
4. Fifth bowler dilemma
The T20 WC 2021 champions fielded their playing XI with four genuine bowlers in most of the matches in this edition of the T20 World Cup. In this scenario, the role of the all-rounders always becomes very crucial for the team. In this edition of the T20 World Cup, the Australian team suffered from a lack of a fifth bowler.
The all-rounders in the Australian team took four wickets in as many matches, with three coming against Ireland. Stoinis and Maxwell filled the quota of the fifth bowler and they appeared to be ineffective in most of the matches. Their spell was very expensive and wicketless in some crucial matches, particularly Stoinis.
Stoinis bowled nine overs and gave away 87 runs and only took a solitary wicket, while Maxwell did well to pick up three wickets in 3.1 overs.
5. Inability to utilize key moments
After a big drubbing at the hands of New Zealand, the defending champions knew that they needed to win big to qualify for the semis. But they could not utilize some key moments against some easier opponents. The Australian cricket team failed to significantly improve their net run rate against Ireland and Afghanistan.
The Men in Yellow posted 179 in 20 against Ireland and wiped out half of the Irish batters with a paltry score of 25. After losing five crucial wickets, the Irish team found themselves in hot soup and a big win for the Australians was on the card.
But Lorcan Tucker, along with the tail-enders, denied the Aussie team a big win. After giving away this golden opportunity to improve their net run rate, the Australian team knew their chances of qualifying for the next stage were hanging by a thread.
The Aaron Finch-led team made a mess of things again against Afghanistan. In a bid to score quickly, they lost three early wickets in the power-play overs. This created extra pressure on the middle order and ultimately proved to be a major factor in them scoring only 168. In response, Afghanistan managed to score 164, and Australia only winning by four runs.