Even against a staunch Pakistan, he looked down and out for a while Marcus Stoinis And Matthew Wade He was taken home with a brilliant partnership of 81 runs.
In the crucial game against South Africa in the group stage, it was the same pair that took them home when things went awry. While Wade and Stoinis played key roles, there were others who came to the party when it mattered and where Australia is now.
TOI takes a look at the reasons behind the turnaround.
Finisher pair ahead: Till the World Cup all the finisher crap was either about the power hitters of West Indies or Hardik Pandya. But it is Wade and Stoinis who have retained the limelight.
In the match against South Africa and the semi-final against Pakistan, the pair brought all their experience into the game to get over the line. Wade took pride on Thursday, but after the match he insisted on the role of Stoinis.
He said, ‘His innings is not getting the limelight it deserves, he played a great game. Even if I had been out (caught in the 19th over before three sixes), we would have reached home,” Wade said.
While Stoinis was injured during the IPL and spent most of his time trying to get fit, Wade, after a mediocre stint in Bangladesh, was grooming himself the right way. Both are not power-hitters but they have experience and know how to control the pace of the game and hit the big shots occasionally when the need arises.
All this happened on Thursday.
Warner’s return to form: The flamboyant opener had a bad IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad and was also dropped at the end of the incident. But the veteran, who has lost his old eye-hand coordination to be perhaps the most destructive T20 batsman, still has the will to succeed.
Warner was determined to make a mark in this World Cup and for that, if he had to cut back on his attacking instincts a bit, he did. It was his experience that finally took over and after some crucial innings in the group stages, he smashed a 30-ball 49 on Thursday, helping Australia reach 89 in 11 overs even though they lost early wickets Were.
This meant the required run rate was not impossible till the end and experienced Wade and Stoinis did enough to take them home.
Zampa A Revelation: leg spinner adam zampa Was not on the list of bowlers to watch out for before the tournament. He played in Bangladesh, skipped the IPL and came to the tournament to know what is expected of him.
He has taken 12 wickets in the tournament so far and has not gone more than 6 per over in five of the six matches. He hasn’t experimented a lot, has tried to keep it tight and has bowled mostly in the middle overs.
Against Pakistan too, he bowled at a crucial time, when Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Rizwan had settled down and kept Pakistan in check.
Correct preparation for fast bowlers: It was interesting how the Australian fast bowlers prepared themselves for the T20 World Cup.
While Mitchell Starc was not a part of IPL this entire season, Pat Cummins was one of the highest paid players. But he sacrificed a huge amount of IPL before the T20 World Cup so that he could stay fresh.
Josh Hazlewood, on the other hand, was not one of the highest earners in the IPL but felt it was necessary to join CSK so that he could get the right kind of practice in UAE conditions. Hazlewood continued to do what he did for CSK early in the innings, bowling behind the length and looking for wickets.
Lessons from defeat: The humiliation against Bangladesh ahead of the World Cup must have been hard to digest, but the team took the necessary lessons that put them in a good position.
While the Aussies thought that Mitchell Marsh would be the right person for the number 3 slot, the fact that Wade would be better as a finisher was decided during the series.
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