T20 World Cup 2022 | Australia are ready to bury all their rivals Down Under

While the other nations adopted varying tactics and methods to prepare for the T20 World Cup, Australia – the reigning world champions – decided to play only 17 T20I matches since their first-ever glory in the tournament last year. It was the second-least number of games among full-member nations: only Afghanistan (15) played fewer. To put it into context, subcontinental giants India and Pakistan played 35 and 25 T20Is respectively. Even England, despite playing 15 Tests, at least five more than any other country, took part in 21 T20Is during this period.

T20 is one of those games that can be unpredictable, but I think history tells you that, generally, the host nation are slight favourites in big tournaments. Many of us have travelled and played in Australia and know the conditions, but of course, no one is going to know the conditions or be as accustomed to them as the Australian team. They are also reigning champions, so you have to pick them out probably as favourites for the tournaments.

Jos Buttler

Now, look at Australia’s full-fledged bowling attack, consisting of Josh Hazlewood, Mithcell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Adam Zampa. There is not much argument that it is the best attack in this format worldwide. Even as a whole, Australia’s strike rate (16.69) since the last T20 World Cup is second to none among full-member nations. Fair to say, playing fewer matches helped the Aussie bowlers to remain fit and start afresh whenever they took the field.

“We'll be mindful of not being too narrow-minded in terms of our focus – what we've tried to do over the last eight to 10 months is to make sure everything we're doing in the T20 space ties back to the World Cup,” skipper Aaron Finch had said during the pre-match conference a week ago. “For us, it's about making sure once we get there that we've had plenty of different combinations of teams that we can play because the last thing that you want is to have an injury derail your whole campaign because you're pigeonholed into playing one style of cricket or one structure of the team.”

When Australia toured India last month, Aaron Finch and the Australian leadership promoted Cam Green to the top of the order in the absence of David Warner. The ploy worked as Green grabbed the opportunity with both hands by finishing as the top-run getter of the series (118 runs at a strike rate of 214.55). The 23-year-old flourished twice in three attempts, which included a brisk 19-ball half-century.

However, many also criticized Finch’s decision to open with Green considering the latter was not even in the World Cup squad. But the discussion is no longer relevant considering Green has made a late entry into the mix as injured Josh Inglis’ replacement. It certainly gives Australia an additional brute-force option at the top and even in the middle if required. It was a bold move taken by the CA because this means there is no substitute wicketkeeper for Matthew Wade in the roster.

“There will be a little bit of mixing and matching but still with that one eye towards the World Cup to make sure we're still as rounded as we can be as a squad,” Finch added during the conference.