Australia’s dream of completing a historic treble came to an end with Afghanistan’s thrilling win over Bangladesh in a Super 8 match of 2024 T20 World Cup. Australia, the current world champions in Tests and ODIs, were aiming to win the T20 world cup too but after a poor show in the second round, they were eliminated.
Australia defeated Bangladesh in their opening match of the Super 8 stage before being stunned by Afghanistan. They lost to India in their third and final fixture of the round which left their hopes dependent on a Bangladesh victory over Afghanistan.
Also Read: Mandhana 4th, Harmanpreet 9th in ODI Rankings
Australia were left chasing a mammoth total of 206 against India on Tuesday after Rohit Sharma’s blistering innings at the top of the order. The India skipper was at his aggressive best, belting seven fours and eight sixes in a 41-ball 92.
Rohit took a shine to Mitchell Starc whom he creamed for 28 runs in an over.
Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg felt the team looked unprepared for the India challenge and pointed out how Starc fails to make necessary adjustment in length when there’s no swing on offer.
“I thought they (Australia) weren’t prepared,” Hogg told Star Sports. “This is a worry with Mitchell Starc. If the ball is not swinging, he doesn’t change his length quickly enough. And he didn’t change his length quickly enough to Rohit Sharma as well when he got hit for 29 runs there.”
“There was one moment where Rohit Sharma came out of the wicket. And then you saw Starc turn around. And I don’t know whether he said Rohit’s hitting with the wind or there’s no swing there. That was a moment where I thought Australia were in a lot of trouble,” he added.
Hogg also felt that Australia didn’t look for the solutions and instead kept focusing on everything that was going wrong.
“(I knew) They’re not going to come back because they were starting just to look at what’s going wrong rather than looking for the solutions. So, that’s probably where it went wrong,” he said.
One of the noticeable feature of Australia was their poor catching during the tournament. And it haunted them against India too when they dropped Hardik Pandya on 4 and he went on to remain unbeaten on 27 off 17.
Chasing the total, Australia managed 181/7 in 20 overs.
“And also, dropping Hardik Pandya, it was an easy catch there for Mitchell Marsh, the skipper, with a couple of overs to go. And I think Hardik scored 22 off the next 10 balls. You can’t afford to drop Hardik Pandya when you’ve just bought your way back into the game. That was also crucial,” Hogg said.
Hogg also accused Australia of taking Afghanistan lightly.
“Australia took Afghanistan too lightly. They rocked up. They weren’t at their best. They were terrible in the field. They were terrible with the ball. And at the end of the day, Afghanistan deserved to be there rather than Australia,” he said.
“Talking about (captain) Mitchell Marsh, he is probably the bro of the team. He’s like Andrew Symonds. He has a lot of fun. If there’s a little bit of division in the camp, or there’s a bit of argy-bargy, he generally lights the load. So, he’s that bro. But the other thing is, Pat Cummins probably wasn’t a certainty to play in the playing XI of this World Cup,” he added.
Stay updated with the latest from T20 World Cup 2024. Explore T20 World Cup Match Today. Check Updated list of Highest-run getters and Highest Wicket-Takers In T20 World Cup 2024. Check T20 World Cup 2024 Points Table and players with the Most Sixes, Most Fours , Most Fifties And Most HundredsIn T20 World Cup 2024.
Comments
0 comment