Australia’s amazing win over Pakistan makes them firm favorites to win the ICC World Twenty20. Of course nothing can ever be certain in this version of the game but the flexibility that the Australian team has, coupled with their enormous self-belief, gives them the edge.
England haven’t done badly either after the disaster of the Guyana match against the host West Indies which they lost on the D/L method. They have picked themselves up splendidly and they too have lots of options in both bowling and batting. It is just that when they play against the old rivals Australia they seem a lot more tense and subdued than against other teams.
It is in the psychological department that the Aussies score over the English and the one possible way that it can change is if Kevin Pietersen takes charge and gets them away. He is the one player that the Australians will be wary of but they also know that with Pietersen they can play on his ego and challenge him to try and do the impossible and get him.
Other teams haven’t tried to do that and Pietersen has just coasted along in those games. He will be really charged up for the finals, for nothing will give him greater pleasure than putting one across and over the Aussies.
It is the first big final for England in a World Cup after 1992 and they will be nervous for sure but if it is positive nervousness then they can use it to good effect. The Australians too will be in their first T20 finals and this is the one trophy which is not in their cabinet, so they will go all out to lock it in. They have won just about everything else there is in world cricket and so will be buoyed after that semi-final win.
It was a tough task scoring at more than nine runs an over and when Cameron White was out, it looked as if the Australians were gone but that is when Michael Hussey showed why he is called 'Mr. Cricket' by playing a blinder of an innings. Not too many would have seen this aspect of Hussey’s batting where he was striking sixes cleanly and with ease but now the world knows that it ain’t over with the Australians till the last ball is bowled.
They have gone with an unchanged side throughout this event and that also breeds confidence in the players. Having said that, some of the other teams retained some senior players who were not contributing and so paid the price.
Hopefully the finals will be as close as the Australia-Pakistan semi-final and not the damp squib that the first semi-final was.
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