Australia are surprisingly still looking for their first T20 World Cup title and for a nation who have been so strong in the 50 over sphere that will be hurting them. They will be looking to put that right over the next three weeks.
Form
Australia’s form in T20 was pretty ordinary but they managed to build something positive to build from and pick up a couple of wins to snatch a 2-1 series win in South Africa a couple of weeks ago and that bodes well for them here. How suited they will be to these conditions remains to be seen.
Australia don’t play a lot of T20 internationally and you wonder if they’ve been left behind by the better nations in the format. We will find that out over the weekend to come but they have some star-studded players who can win matches on their own which bodes well for them.
Key men
I always think whenever Dave Warner goes well so do Australia so with that in mind he has to be a key man for them. He is going to be utilised in a different way to what we are accustomed to seeing him in through this tournament as he will be employed the middle order. It will be interesting to see how he performs under pressure.
Glenn Maxwell should be a big player in these conditions too. Two of Australia’s matches are on his home ground in the IPL which is vital and his big hitting and canny off-spin should make up a solid combination. Maxwell can win a match in no time when he gets going and he’ll be key to Australia’s chances in this event.
Fixtures
Fri Mar 18 – Super 10 Group 2: Australia vs New Zealand (Dharamsala)
Mon Mar 21 – Super 10 Group 2: Australia vs Bangladesh (Bangalore)
Fri Mar 25 – Super 10 Group 2: Australia vs Pakistan (Mohali)
Sun Mar 27 – Super 10 Group 2: India vs Australia (Mohali)
Stats
Overall T20I record: P84 W42 L39 T2 NR1
Last 10 results (Most recent first): LWWLLLLLWW
Record vs group opponents:
Vs Bangladesh: P3 W3 L0
Vs India: P12 W4 L8
Vs New Zealand: P5 W4 L0 T1
Vs Pakistan: P13 W5 L7 T1
Record batting first: P39 W18 L20 NR1
Record batting second: P45 W24 L19 T2
Odds
Tournament odds: 5/1 (Paddy Power)
Group 2 odds: 9/4 (Paddy Power)
Team bets
If Dave Warner was opening the batting I would probably get stuck into him to be the top Australia tournament batsman but the fact that he isn’t could open the door for someone to capitalise. Warner is going to need to maximise every innings he has in order to top score from the middle order and I’m not sure about that.
The man I think can take advantage is Shane Watson. Watson has a raft of experience of batting in India in the Indian Premier League and in international matches in the country. Watson’s big strength is that he is such a clean hitter of the ball against the spinners. He’s one of the best slog sweepers in the world but he can hit it straight down the ground too.
There are a few dangers in this side but you would think the openers are good enough to make this between the two of them especially with Smith not the quickest scorer in the world at number three. I’ll go with Watson here.
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