Australia will depend on Steve Smith to tackle the spin-friendly conditions © Getty
Steven Smith, the Australian captain, presented a confident front about his side's chances in the ICC World T20, 2016. Only one major trophy - the T20 World Cup - has eluded Australia in their march towards complete cricket domination and days before the start of the sixth edition of the tournament, Smith said he saw no reason why his squad of 15 can't right the wrongs of the previous experiences.
"Traditionally we haven't done as well as we would have liked in this format. This is a tournament that has eluded us so we're here to try and win it," Smith said in pre-tournament presser at the Taj Bengal Hotel in Kolkata on Saturday (March 12).
Despite entering the World Cup on the back of a confidence-boosting 2-1 series win in South Africa last week, Australia aren't exactly the bookmakers' favourites to lift the title. They possess some of the best hitters - the Warners and the Maxwells - and the sharpest bowlers in the business but there remains a general belief that Australia just don't take the T20Is as seriously as they do Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODIs). Smith, however, saw this situation in a different light.
"I wouldn't say that's the case," he said. "Obviously we have pretty packed schedules and we play a lot of cricket. So sometimes the T20 becomes a format in which you don't see a lot of Test and ODI players playing in. There's certainly a lot of time and effort invested by Cricket Australia (CA) in the build up to this tournament. They have done a terrific job so far and we're in a good place, so hopefully we can contribute and have a good tournament as a team. We've all certainly played a lot of T20 cricket. We know how to play the game and if we do it to the best of our ability we are going to be a tough side to beat."
Key to Australia's chances in the tournament will rest on how captain Smith and senior batsman David Warner perform in a re-jigged top-order. While Smith, by his lofty standards, had a reasonably quite series in South Africa (scores of 6, 19 and 44), Warner continued to thrive despite being pushed down the order in a bid to accommodate Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch and Shane Watson at the top. The Australian captain conceded that while the changes were by and large successful, the team would reassess their batting order on a game-by-game basis.
"We've obviously got a lot of guys that can bat at the top of the order and he's (Warner) fitted in quite well at No.4," he opined. "That doesn't mean he's going to play there in this tournament. I think for us, its about being flexible and summing up the conditions and who we are playing against and try to match up as well as we can. I think it comes down to a lot of different things. Who we think is going to be best suited for each opposition... in each ground that we play at. I think we've got 15 guys that can all do a job in these conditions.
"As far as my role in the order is concerned, it was nice to score a few in the last game. Would have been nicer to take the team home. It was good to spend a bit of time in the middle. That was kind of what I needed. For me... hitting sixes is about keeping my shape as much as possible. When I try to hit the ball hard, I probably lose a lot of that and bring myself down. If the shape is good in my strokeplay and if I hit the ball out of the middle, it is generally going to go."
Unlike some of his predecessors, Smith also has the advantage of using as many as three tweakers - Adam Zampa, Ashton Agar and Glenn Maxwell - on the spin-conducive surfaces of the subcontinent. The captain was particularly generous in his praise of young Zampa, the leg spinner who impressed with his control in the South African series, despite going wicket-less. "I think he's improved a lot over the last couple of years," Smith said. "I think he's bowled beautifully. He's got a lot of variations, reads the batsmen very well which is very important in this format of the game and is very confident in his skill set. Hope he can have a good tournament for us."
Man for man, Australia have a team as good as any. How they make the transition to the hard surfaces of Australia and South Africa to the slow and low ones in India will go a long way in determining how far they go in the tournament. Besides New Zealand, they are likely to face three subcontinental team in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (possibly), where batting against spin will be just as important as bowling spin. Thankfully, like it has been for so many other teams, the IPL has been a major plus for a lot of the Australian players.
"The conditions won't be a disadvantage at all," Smith said. "I think IPL has been great in the development of a lot of players from all around the world. The experiences we've had from the IPL will hold us in good stead for this tournament. A lot of us know what to expect, what the conditions are going to be like...what it's like playing in these surfaces and in front of great crowds here in India. We're really excited to put on a good show," he summed up.
via- Cricbuzz
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