When Indian skipper MS Dhoni joined Virat Kohli in their sudden death World T20 clash at Mohali against Australia, they need 67 runs to win off 36 deliveries.
Kohli wasn’t setting the world alight with 35 off 30, so there was no way India could win.
But they were playing Australia, renowned for grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory, especially in T20 cricket.
As if inspired by Dhoni’s presence and greatly assisted by rubbish Australian bowling, Kohli got the Indians home with five deliveries spare – 67 off 31.
Kohli cruised from 35 off 30 to 82 off 51 – or 47 off 21 when push turned to shove. He was as magnificent as the Australian attack was embarrassingly inept, with the exception of Shane Watson.
In those final six overs:
Watson went for eight – Dhoni six, Kohli two.
Josh Hazlewood for 12 – Kohli 12.
Watson for eight – Dhoni six, Kohli one, leg bye.
James Faulkner for 19 – Kohli 16, Dhoni two, leg bye.
Nathan Coulter-Nile for 16 – Kohli 16.
And Faulkner for four by Dhoni off the first ball of the 20th over.
So the Australians are on the way home when they should be preparing to meet the West Indies in the semis.
Where did they go wrong?
It started with the selectors naming Nathan Coulter-Nile and Andrew Tye in the 15-man squad.
There were plenty of pace options already in the squad with Josh Hazlewood, John Hastings, Shane Watson and Mitchell Marsh – making Coulter-Nile and Tye superfluous on Indian tracks that demand spinners.
So leaving them out would have made room for offie Nathan Lyon and leggie Cameron Boyce.
But the selectors named only two spinners – left-arm orthodox Ashton Agar and leggie Adam Zampa with offie Glenn Maxwell hardly an international quality spinner.
Agar was carted for 18 in one over by Kiwi Martin Guptill in the opening game and was never seen again, Zampa was a definite find with 5-69 in the tournament with the best economy rate of 6.27, while Maxwell did his usual thing without worrying anyone in taking 2-61.
The New Zealand selectors were more switched on by picking offie Nathan McCullum, left-armer Mitchell Santner, and leggie Ish Sodhi.
They went far further by naming all three in every game, and leaving out their world-class opening bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult. Result – the Kiwis have won all four of their group games, including beating Australia and India,
When will the penny drop for the Australian selectors in naming squads to play in India – it’s horses for courses. Spin in, pace out.
And the same horses for courses formula works for the Australian batting order as well. You don’t pick four opening batsmen in a squad of 15, and if you do, two of them have to bat elsewhere,
But you don’t split recognised openers David Warner and Aaron Finch – ever.
Messing with Warner in the order was very costly, making only 38 runs in four digs – a 9.50 average is not Warner’s way to do business. Usman Khawaja should have been batting three, with Watson five or six, depending on the make-up of the side.
And that leaves Steve Smith’s captaincy under fire for the first time.
From the outset when he took over from Michael Clarke, Smith has been a very positive and passionate leader, but not in this tournament. He was floundering with bowling changes and field placings, normally his strengths.
As his confidence fell away, so did his batting with only 83 runs at 27.66 with a top score of 61* – that’s not the skipper’s way of doing business either.
So when Warner and Smith go AWOL with the bat, Australia was always going to be in trouble.
And Coulter-Nile magnified the problem by taking 1-132 in the four group games. All that did was prove the obvious he shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
So another badly selected Australian T20 campaign comes to an unsatisfactory close.
Prosenjit
Guest
Australia lost because warner and maxwell couldn't fire.they had the start to post atleast 175-180.to me maxwell is wasting his talent n seems to be going the afridi way.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Didn't like Hastings in the ODIs against India in Feb? Thought he was one of our best performers?
The Bush
Roar Guru
NCN's ODI record looks pretty good. Who else should we be taking?
Raymond
Guest
Well I guess that means a lot more excuses to come when they get knocked off in ODIs and tests in the next 12 months then.
TC123
Guest
But they are number one in tests and one dayers if you didn't already know that
Craig Swanson
Guest
Yeh Go figure it Peter. Rewarding mediocrity has become an art form with CA. Hastings did not fare much better than Coulter-Nile. He was also picked for Windies tour.
Craig Swanson
Guest
Boonah. Love the expression "man crush on Maxwell". With you all he way. The most over rated player in Australia.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Odd, seems like he did exactly what DL complains he didn't do - score 30 or more. So when given more time, he scored more runs. Strange that. If you think Maxwell was what went wrong with this side, then you're in the same boat as DL - delusional, but then you seem to be happy to be in agreement with him (good for you). P.S. Perhaps comprehension is tough for you, but I argued that comparing averages between openers and lower order batsmen was pointless and then noted that Maxwell's averages matches other elite middle order batsmen like de Villiers. But sure, do your thing. Love the name!
The Bush
Roar Guru
You're free to think that if you want. I personally subscribe to the theory that an opener is an opener and it's a specialised position. As an example, openers are usually the types of players that take a few balls to get going, part of the role re new ball. Middle order batsmen tend to be get off the mark straight away types. Then there's the strength re spin thing. Even in T20s opening with spin remains rare.
Paul D
Roar Guru
That made me laugh.
Boonah is not The Bush!
Guest
Outrageous? What is outrageous is your (and the wooden goose's) refusal to allow any critiscism of Maxwell at all. You argued previously that his average should be ignored because he bats so low therefore he never gets more than a handful of overs and yet you conveniently ignore his last two efforts where he had heaps of overs, for T20, to bat and yet still tossed his cookies away. Sadly he's a flake, hugely talented but still a flake and it's okay for David, or me for that matter, to say so.
Boonah is not The Bush!
Guest
Mrs D? Is that you?
Peter
Guest
And now they pick Coulter-Nile for the ODI's in WI...really! Oh dear, did they not watch the T20 debacle, ah 1/125 or something is not a good indicator for any short form cricket. Got to be joking!
Rabbits
Guest
Nice theory The Bush but tell me in T20 does it matter if you've got four batsmen in a side who would all normally open in ODIs and Tests? The format is so short none of these foibles should come into play, should it?
MH
Guest
-- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
MH
Guest
I think that the pitches have been hard to read - even during a game My view is that the team selection has been around FLEXIBILITY Without MARSH they lost a bit in terms of FLEXIBILITY - both in bowling at the end + the prospect of a few more runs - we will never know but 10more runs may have just done it Bowling spinners is interesting - SMITH bowling AGAR early in GAME 1 just didn't work but it may have so don't knock him for trying An interesting series with some matches, possibly, decided by +/- 10 runs either way -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Craig Swanson
Guest
Spin, the playing of and the bowling of, also let us down badly. Emerging leg spinner Adam Zampa was under bowled while spin partner Ashton Agar, after one obvious nervy over was banished for the duration. A rash move indeed as he has proven in domestic cricket he can bowl both economically and attacking. We really needed to have both spinners on deck with Maxwell as the only other spin option. Also would have liked to see Smith bowl more than he did. We are still a mess playing spin. Some players get confused between when to attack and to play safely. All too often we try to hit the spinner out of the ground only to find a fielder and did a big hole for ourselves
Craig Swanson
Guest
How long has our death bowling let us down? Too long imho. Before the WC our coaches and selectors were waxing lyrical about our in form death bowlers, Andrew Tye, Scott Boland and John Hastings. Boland did not make the squad, Tye and Hastings did. Tye, I think only got one game while Hastings went for plenty in his games while never nailing the death. Why our two most accomplished BBL bowlers Clint McKay and Ben Laughlin were not in India is anyone's guess.
Chuck
Guest
So once again Warner gets an excuse. Batting down the order. Why not question whether he is simply a flat, home track bully?
Boonah is not The Bush!
Guest
Sheesh, there are a few people commenting who should get over their man crush on Glenn Maxwell. He is a very talented cricketer who also just happens to be unable to modify his game for any significant length of time regardless of what the situation calls for and it;s ok to criticise him for that. Yes, he may well have passed 30 twice in 2 games but he also threw his wicket away in both games when a decent score beckoned. You claim his average is low because of where he bats in the order but then, when he gets a chance for a longer innings he tosses it away - he;s flaky and you cant have it both ways.