A pale shadow of their past

Smith-led Australia have failed to live up to the expected high standards

When Aaron Finch brought up his century and celebrated it with a fist-pump, it seemed like the famous fighting spirit of the Australians was back. With their backs to the wall and desperately seeking inspiration, the Aussies looked like turning it around like their sides in the past.

But in a span few overs, the dreaded disease that’s been plaguing the Aussies over the last few years and more so in the ongoing series, returned to bring about their doom. From a position of great strength, they suffered a horrible implosion, allowing their opponents back into the game first and then be stomped over.

In this series itself, the Australians had the Indians under the gun in all the three matches but ended up spraying the bullets all over inexplicably. In the opening ODI at Chennai, they had reduced the hosts to 11/3 but bowled and fielded in a sloppy manner as Virat Kohli’s men ended up posting 281/7. In Kolkata, after a decent bowling display, they forged a good partnership through Travis Head and Steve Smith but just when both the batsmen were looking set for big knocks, they fell to poor shots and India then rampaged past them. In Indore, having crossed 200 in the 35th over and with eight wickets in hands, they stumbled yet again to eventually lose the series at the earliest time of asking.

It’s not this series alone where the defending five-time world champions have slipped from the brilliant to pedestrian in a game. They haven’t won an ODI in their last eight tries — two them have been washouts — and have seldom lost a bilateral rubber so early.  

This character of letting a game drift away from an advantageous position is not something one associates with Australia normally. Be it the sides in the Bodyline era or the squad that triumphed in the 1987 World Cup under the astute leadership of Allan Border or the teams led by Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting that bossed modern day cricket, Australians were renowned for their ‘never give-up’ attitude.

Their hard-nosed win-at-all-costs approach didn’t necessarily win them many fans the world over, but their insatiable hunger for excellence made them the benchmark all others sides looked to match. They didn’t flinch even at the most adverse of situations and weren’t shy from turning the contest ugly if they couldn’t find a clean way.

Skipper Steve Smith knows what the current problem is but is not able to address it as his personnel have repeatedly let him down. While Smith has been shouldering their batting largely and has scored two half-centuries in this series, his senior pros David Warner and Glenn Maxwell have been ordinary. For a squad where the majority haven’t much played cricket in India, they had to lead the way but the duo have fallen short. At least Warner made an effort in Indore but Maxwell has thrown his wicket away in the last two games in shocking way. The younger crop, excluding Marcus Stoinis, sadly hasn’t put its hand up.

The Australians are also missing the services of rested Mitchell Starc, their hero at the 2015 World Cup, and an injured Josh Hazlewood. While Pat Cummins and Nathan Coulter-Nile have been good, Kane Richardson and Stoinis are yet to gain sharpness to trouble the best consistently.

Fielding too has been a big letdown for the Australians. A side that prided in setting extremely high standards, the Aussies have spilled catches with Smith himself grassing one each in the three matches.

With the Ashes imminent and the World Cup about two years away, the Australian selectors have to address the rot. Perhaps, they could borrow an idea from their arch-rivals England, who from being a mediocre limited-overs side transformed themselves into an exciting bunch. They need to go back to domestic circuit and identity some fresh talents who can drive the team forward. If they feel the current set-up under transition will deliver results in near future, then they need to stop the constant chopping and changing that’s hurting the balance of the squad. More importantly, they need to rediscover the mental fortitude that shaped the sides of the past. The sooner they find that, better will be their fortunes.