- Name: Australia
- Captain: Aaron Finch
- Head Coach: Justin Langer
- Squad members: 14+3
- Best result: Runner-up in 2010
- WT20 2016 result: Group stage
The once mighty Australians, this team hasn’t won any sort of silverware in major ICC tournaments since they won the ICC 50-over World Cup in 2007. In fact, they’ve never ever won a T20 World tournament and judging by their explosive but not-so-versatile squad and recent results in the shortest format, I’m going to have to be honest and say that Australia is definitely not a pre-tournament favourite for the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup.
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Coming into this tournament, they lost 1-4 to Bangladesh in Bangladesh and prior to that, toured the Caribbean and lost 1-4 there as well, so winning hasn’t been a habit for them in recent months! They’re being captained by Aaron Finch who has 3 fifties in his last 9 T20Is and a few starts in there. His two T20I centuries have both come in away games and his average and strike rate are higher when overseas as well, so here’s a positive for them.
His opening partner is likely to be David Warner who is not in the best place mentally because of the poor way in which he was treated by his franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2021. After being sacked as captain and benched in UAE recently, he hasn’t had a great run and may not be as menacing as he has been over the years. Just in case they want to play around with the batting lineup, Josh Inglis and Matthew Wade are alternate opening options.
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It’s in fact going to be have to be a coin toss between Wade and Inglis as their wicket-keeper option as Alex Carey didn’t make the 2021 T20 World Cup squad. We’ll go for Wade because he’s more experienced and on his day, can be more threatening. Talking about threats, please say hi to Glenn Maxwell 2.0. He had a fabulous IPL 2021 for RCB with six fifties in 14 games and a massive shot range, getting 500+ runs and clearly, in the form of his life.
A Maxwell high on confidence is exactly the impetus they need in the middle order and he’s in fact not the only all-rounder in form right now because Mitchell Marsh seems to have rediscovered himself as well. In June this year, he had ZERO T20I fifties and he now has 4 after the tours of Bangladesh and West Indies, followed by a List A century last month. He’s also in the form of his life and these two will provide all the impetus needed in the middle overs.
This side has no shortage of all-rounders because they also have Ashton Agar and Marcus Stoinis in the squad. Stoinis is ideally a first-choice pick in the Aussie T20 squad but he missed a number of games for DC in IPL 2021 and we’re not 100% sure of his fitness levels. Usually prone to injury, a like-for-like replacement is Dan Christian who is all of 38 years old but after a sensational BBL 2020/21 with bat and ball, he returns and is part of the reserves.
Australia – T20 World Cup 2021 Betting
Clearly, they have a very powerful batting lineup and we’re not even talking about the likes of Steve Smith who is going to fit in there somewhere or the other, even though he’s not the ideal T20 batsman as such. He’s still one of the world’s best and will feature in the playing eleven. And in the bowling department, they have a couple of spearheads who will lead the attack and make it super difficult for opponents to get runs.
Just when we thought that Mitchell Starc may not be as dangerous and lethal as he once was, he got a flurry of wickets in recent international games and is once again going to be a threat. Remember, finishing leading wicket-taker in two consecutive 50-over World Cups is no small achievement. He’s going to be bowling alongside vice-captain Pat Cummins, while we think that Kane Richardson and Josh Hazlewood will complete the pace department.
AUSTRALIA T20 World Cup 2021 squad: Aaron Finch (C), Pat Cummins, Ashton Agar, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Marcus Stoinis. RESERVES: Dan Christian, Daniel Sams, Nathan Ellis.
While Maxwell and Agar are options, there’s just one spinner in the side and that’s Adam Zampa who hasn’t gone wicketless in any of his last 9 T20 internationals for Australia but we wonder how effective he will be in UAE, where he was expensive and picked only 2 wickets in 3 games for RCB in IPL 2020 last year. He’s likely to start as well but if Stoinis is fit, we’re looking at a probably axe while Richardson could also make way.
For more updates on the progress of Australia this T20 World Cup 2021, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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