Australia have ticked all the boxes at T20 World Cup | Cricket News – Times of India

When the T20 World Cup started three weeks ago, not too many gave Australia a chance. They were coming to the World Cup on the back of a 1-4 humiliation against Bangladesh and the stars who played the IPL hardly looked convincing (but for Glenn Maxwell and Josh Hazlewood). But all that has turned around and the Aussies are now knocking on the doors of a T20 world title, a feat that has eluded them so far.
Even against a fancied Pakistan, they looked down and out for a while till Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade took them home with a brilliant 81-run partnership.
In the crucial game against South Africa in the group stage, it was this same duo that took them home when things had started to go awry. While Wade and Stoinis have played a significant part, there were others who, too, came to the party just when it mattered and now Australia are where they are.
TOI takes a look at the reasons behind the turnaround.
Finisher duo to the fore: All the finisher chatter leading up to the World Cup was either about the West Indian power hitters or Hardik Pandya. But it’s Wade and Stoinis who have hogged the limelight.
The match against South Africa and the semifinal against Pakistan, the duo brought all its experience into play to get over the line. Wade cornered the glory on Thursday, but after the match, he stressed on the role Stoinis played.

“His innings is not getting the limelight it deserves, he played a brilliant hand. Even if I had got out (caught in the 19th over before the three sixes happened), we would have got home,” Wade said.
While Stoinis was injured during the IPL and spent most of his time on the sidelines trying to get fit, Wade, after a mediocre stint in Bangladesh, was preparing himself in right earnest. Both aren’t power-hitters, but they have the experience and know how to control the tempo of the game and bring out the occasional big shot when necessary.
It was all on display on Thursday.
Warner back in form: The swashbuckling opener had a wretched IPL playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad and towards the end of the event, he was even dropped. But the veteran, who has probably lost his old eye hand-eye coordination to be the most destructive T20 batsman around, still has the will-power to succeed.
Warner was determined to make an impression in this World Cup and for that, if he had to cut down on his attacking instincts just a little bit, he did that. It was his experience that finally took over and after a couple of crucial knocks in the group stages, he came up with a 30-ball 49 on Thursday that helped Australia reach 89 in 11 overs, even though they had lost early wickets.
It meant that the required run rate wasn’t insurmountable towards the end and the experienced Wade and Stoinis did just enough to take them home.

Zampa a revelation: Leggie Adam Zampa wasn’t on the list of bowlers to look out for ahead of the tournament. He played in Bangladesh, skipped the IPL and came to the tournament knowing exactly what is expected of him.
He has taken 12 wickets so far in the tournament and hasn’t gone for more than 6 per over in five of the six games. He hasn’t experimented too much, has looked to keep it tight and bowled mostly in the middle-overs.
Even against Pakistan, he bowled at a crucial time when Fakhar Zaman and Mohammed Rizwan had settled in and kept Pakistan in check.

Right preparation for the pacers: It was interesting how the Aussie pacers prepared themselves for the T20 World Cup.
While Mitchell Starc wasn’t part of the IPL at all this season, Pat Cummins was one of the highest-paid players. But he sacrificed the big bucks of the IPL ahead of the T20 World Cup so that he could remain fresh.
Josh Hazlewood, on the other hand, wasn’t one of the highest IPL earners, but he felt it was necessary to join CSK so that he gets the right kind of practice in UAE conditions. Hazlewood has kept doing what he did for CSK at the beginning of the innings, bowling back of the length and looking for wickets.

Learning from defeats: The humiliation against Bangladesh before the World Cup must have been hard to digest, but the team took the necessary lessons that stood them in good stead.
While the Aussies figured out Mitchell Marsh would be the right man for the No. 3 slot, the fact that Wade would be better off as a finisher was decided during the course of the series.