Australia is a big name in the cricket world. In the Test or ODI cricket, they are always treated as a favourite team, especially in the big tournaments. But when it comes to T20I, Australia looks like a quite different team. The ODI World Champion Australia has never won a single WT20 however they had finished as runner-up in 2010 WT20.
In the T20I cricket, inconsistency is one of the biggest problems for the Australian team. After ending 2014 WT20, Australia have won 5 T20Is out of 11 T20Is where they also suffered defeat in 6 T20Is. But the worst part was that they had lost 5 consecutive T20Is at the very recent time. However, winning the last two T20Is will surely give a boost to the Australian team ahead of WT20 2016.
For the WT20 2016, the Australian team looks like a good team, especially in their batting side. They have some good pace-all-rounders too in their bowling line-up. Steve Smith is selected as captain of the Australian team for WT20 2016. Despite there are many areas need to improve, the Australian team is looking very positive for the WT20 2016.
Like the other teams, they have also some strengths and weaknesses in T20I.
These are discussed briefly in the following:
Strength
Australia’s biggest strength in T20I is their batting. They have big power hitters like David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, Steve Smith etc. in these tournaments who also can bat sensibly at the important situation. In the addition, many Australian cricketers (especially batsmen) are enough experience with the Indian pitches due to featuring in IPL (Indian Premier League).
On the other hand, Australia has some experience fast-bowling all-rounders which can be always a plus point for a cricket nation in a big tournament.
Weakness
Except Josh Hazlewood, they have not many pacers who can consistently scare the opponent batsmen. However Australia has experience pace all-rounders but the lack of good specialised pacer can be affected in the bowling line-up. The lack of quality spin bowling is also a big headache for Australia, especially when the tournament is being played on Indian pitches.
All other important information of Australian cricket in T20Is are given below:
Australia’s 15-man squad for 2016 WT20: – Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Nevill, Andrew Tye, Shane Watson, Adam Zampa.
Coach: Darren Lehmann
Fixtures of Australia in 2016 WT20:
Group 2
18th March – Australia vs New Zealand at Dharamsala
21st March – Australia vs Bangladesh (QA1) at Bangalore
25th March – Australia vs Pakistan at Mohali
27th March – Australia vs India at Mohali
Australian performance history in the WT20 (against 2016 WT20’s Group 2 teams)
| Opposition | Matches | Won | Lost | Tie (W/L) | No Result |
| New Zealand | – | – | – | – (-/-) | – |
| Bangladesh | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 (0/0) | 0 |
| Pakistan | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 (0/0) | 0 |
| India | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 (0/0) | 0 |
Australian performance history in T20I (against 2016 WT20’s Group 2 teams)
| Opposition | Matches | Won | Lost | Tie (W/L) | No Result |
| New Zealand | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 (0/1) | 0 |
| Bangladesh | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 (0/0) | 0 |
| Pakistan | 13 | 5 | 7 | 1 (0/1) | 0 |
| India | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 (0/1) | 0 |
Australian performances in the previous World T20s:
| Year | Host Nation | Finishing Position |
| 2007 | South Africa | Semi-final |
| 2009 | England | Group Stage (Round 1) |
| 2010 | West Indies | Runner-up |
| 2012 | Sri Lanka | Semi-final |
| 2014 | Bangladesh | Super 10 (Round 2) |