Australia determined to turn things around against India following Afghanistan defeat
Captain Mitchell Marsh confides in his players, expecting better performance under pressure.
Australia will face the India challenge in their pursuit of a semi-final berth, following their loss against Afghanistan where they suffered a shocking 21-run loss in their penultimate Super Eights fixture, on June 22, in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
If India wins against Australia and Afghanistan defeats Bangladesh on June 24, India and Afghanistan will make their way into the semi-finals, bringing an unexpected end to Australia’s campaign.
Marsh acknowledged the importance of the India match, tagging it as a “must-win game”, believing that the pressure would bring the best out of his players.
Afghanistan beat Australia by 21 runs
“First things first, (we have to) recover. We have a lot of belief in our group. We are a very good cricket team. Yes, tonight we had an off night but I guess there's also a positive in the fact that in 36 hours we go again. It's a big game, it will be against India obviously and it's a must-win game. I think if you look back at the short history of this team, I know for a fact that it brings out the best in our guys, so the boys will certainly be up and about for it,” Marsh said during the post-match press conference.
“We've got a good bunch of people and I believe our best is up there with the best. So, we need to bring that on whatever day it is, in a couple of days’ time and move forward pretty quickly.”
ICC Digital Insider Crystal Arnold and Ricky Ponting review the riveting Super Eight clash between Australia and Afghanistan.
Australia have been excellent with the bat and ball this tournament, but their fielding department has seen better days, as was evident from their disappointing display against Afghanistan.
“I think we don't want to have too many off nights in the field but I also believe that at our best we're an unbelievable fielding side so it's easy to look at tonight and yes it was disappointing but ultimately, we have 36 hours to turn it around and I still believe that our best is very good in the field,” stated Marsh after the match.
“We certainly pride ourselves on our fielding. Can't question the boys putting in the work. I think it's no different to any other skill set. We put in the work, we didn't execute in the field tonight and ultimately it played a part in us losing the game.”
After a hat-trick against Bangladesh, Cummins followed it up with yet another hat-trick against Afghanistan
Although Pat Cummins’ hat-trick helped in restricting the Afghans to 148/6, the Aussie batters failed to chase it down, courtesy of exceptional bowling spells from Gulbadin Naib and Naveen-ul-Haq, who shared seven wickets between them, succumbing to their first loss of the T20 World Cup 2024.
The Australian captain was full of praise for Afghanistan and gave them due credit for the stunning win.
“Well, I mean first things first, I thought Afghanistan were really good and they outplayed us and they deserved to win that game. There's a lot of things you can look at, the reality is there are small margins here. When the scores are low, we had an off-one in the field. But yeah, got to give credit where credit is due and Afghanistan was pretty good,” Marsh added.
Currently, India sit at the top of the Group 1 standings with four points while Australia (second) and Afghanistan (third) share two points each with Bangladesh yet to win a Super Eight match.