AUSTRALIA have won the ODI World Cup on the last three occasions (1999, 2003 & 2007). But prior to this strong showing in the Caribbean, have failed to come to terms with the T20 format. In the inaugural World T20 in South Africa, the Aussies were beaten by India in the semi-finals. In the next edition in England, they failed to reach the last-four stage. This time however, they seem very well prepared and determined to correct that anomaly.
They have in-form players in their line-up (unlike India, who have players in the team who are there on past reputation, not on current form). They have a young and shrewd captain in Michael Clarke. In the Super Eight match against India on Friday, when the Australian openers had laid a solid platform, Clarke was quick to realize that he had to drop himself down the order and had to promote big-hitters like David Hussey and Cameron White ahead of himself. So much so, that he ultimately did not come out to bat at all, thinking only about the team’s cause. Any other captain would have been tempted to go out in the middle but Clarke understands that his game is not best suited to slog hitting. It turned out to be a wise decision.
As opposed to that, what can one say about India’s abysmal show in the same match? Hyped by the media as being title contenders, they were exposed by clinical Australia as being mere pretenders. Until Rohit Sharma came out and played some nice shots, it had appeared that Australia were up against Afghanistan. Only Afghanistan would have shown more fight.
It is a well-established fact that players should be given a chance when they are in their best form. Ravindra Jadeja did not play a single match in this season’s IPL (due to well-known reasons) and Pragyan Ojha was in outstanding form in the same tournament, which finished just days ahead of the T20 World Cup. But what did the Indian selectors do? They dropped the in-form Ojha in favour of short-of-cricket Jadeja. The Australians just tore Jadeja to shreds.
Robin Uthappa was in searing form in the IPL. Yuvraj was woefully out of form (Injury or whatever. Reasons can be any and many). But the selectors were banking on Yuvraj to suddenly come back into form in the middle of the World Cup. They were not prepared to include the in-form players, who were not big names. The result – Australia mauled them by 49 runs. Now, 49 runs is a comprehensive margin even in one-day cricket. In T20, it is overwhelmingly one-sided to say the least. But according to BCCI rules, Srikkanth & Co are accountable to no one.
Seeing the Barbados pitch, it was a good opportunity to give paceman Vinay Kumar his T20 international debut. But the side was packed with part-time spinners. And after packing the side with part-time spinners, Dhoni chose to field as he wanted to exploit early morning conditions. Now, how in the world can you exploit early morning conditions with part-time spinners, is something only Dhoni can explain.
On the strength of the performance of the teams so far, it appears more than likely that Australia will be lifting the trophy in Barbados on 16 May. As for the Indians, they need to be more realistic, grounded and better prepared. The Indian selectors need to include the right in-form players in the team and not blindly go for big names only. For that the selectors need to travel and watch games and not limit themselves to being brand ambassadors of just one team only (because ultimately you can pick the best in-form players only if you know who these in-form players are). The BCCI needs to make these selectors accountable.
The ICC too needs to be accountable. They have shown tremendous ability in organising and successfully running world events but three T20 World Cups in less than three years is kind of too fast. The inaugural T20 World Cup was played in South Africa in September 2007. It is not even three years since then and we are coming to the close of the third T20 World Cup. Some thought should be given to curb this reckless speed.
