Top 5 embarrasments faced by Australia across formats

The pomp, the glory and the swagger, attributes which became synonymous with the Australian cricket team have gone for an almighty toss in the recent months. The Steven Smith-led team has struggled to get going across all formats, and are looking like a jaded unit.

After having struggled in the Test series against Sri Lanka, there was a sense of optimism when the team won the following One Day International and T20 series. However, the team has found it very tough to get going against a rampant South African team in the ongoing ODI series.

Here this list, we take a look at 5 such embarrassing moments that Australia have encountered across formats in the recent past.

# 4-0 defeat to India

Steve Smith walks away after being dismissed (Photo credit: BCCI)

This series will go down as one of the most embarrassing moments in the history of Australia. The Michael Clarke-led team was drubbed in the 4-match Test Series 4-0. The score line does not reveal the entire story, as right throughout the series, the Australians were outplayed and were dominated across all the three facets by the hosts.

If the troubles on the field were not enough, controversy surrounded the team even off the field. Four Australian players which included team vice-captain, Shane Watson were dropped from the team for the Third test, for not completing their homework. Other players who were dropped included Mitchell Johnson, James Pattinson and Usman Khawaja, as they did not complete a task assigned by the then coach Mickey Arthur. The players were asked to suggest ways and means to improve the performances of the team in the forthcoming Test matches.

This stoked a huge controversy, which had an effect on the performance of the team as they went on to lose the remaining matches.