WT20: Time for Australia to shed 'minnows' tag

Past laurels do not matter when faced with the new challenge of a fresh tournament. Unfortunately for Australia, the team does not even have this make-believe cushion to bank on ahead of their WT20 campaign under skipper George Bailey.

Fourth different captain in four different editions of World T20, Bailey has the ardent task of achieving what the likes of Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke could not. Starting from behind Bangladesh and a bit ahead of Ireland in international T20 rankings may be an incentive to lash out but is definitely not a confidence boosting factor.

Spin plus spinning tracks plus seasoned spinners equals pain

For a team which has struggled to negotiate Pakistan's spin recently, matters get a whole lot worse as Sri Lankan tracks will largely assist slower bowlers. Bring on Saeed Ajmal and Sunil Naraine and the Australians may find themselves short by 10-20 runs of where they would have liked to be. Reason?

If the recently concluded series against Pakistan is an indication to go by, Australia gave four wickets to  Ajmal from his eight in the first two matches which cost just 33 runs. A reminder: These were T20s! Even part-timer Shoaib Malik and 20-year-old rookie Raza Hasan taunted the 3-time ODI World Champions and returned to gloat about their reasonable bowling figures, barring the final T20 though.

Australia's highest score in the series was 168 - reasonable by T20 standards. Australia's lowest score in the series was 89 - horrific by any standard.

Of past performers and performances

There was a time when the likes of Michael Hayden, Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee played for the national side. Power-performances from these individuals however could not ensure the title. In the 2007 edition for instance, Hayden finished as the top-scorer with 265 runs and five fifties. In the same edition, Stuart Clarke was the second-highest wicket-taker with 12 from six matches. The team as a unit though, eventually crashed to India in the semi-final.

The 2009 edition of WT20 is best left not spoken about, for the sake of Australian fans, with mammoth defeats against West Indies (by 7 wickets) and Sri Lanka (by 6 wickets). Highest individual score was David Warner's 65 which was the 41st best!

Michael Clarke took over from Ricky Ponting for the World Cup next year and managed to go an extra mile. A clean streak of wins however was ruined in the final when England spoiled Australia's party, by 7 wickets and 18 balls and a World Cup remaining.

To pin-point a particular reason would be a job best left for current coach Mickey Arthur.

Minnows vs Minnows to kick-start campaign, then?

Bailey in a press conference said that rankings in T20 are 'most inconsistent'. It however is perhaps best summed up by a report published in the Sydney Morning Herald on September 15 stating the batsmen need to find a way to survive, and ultimately thrive, against the world's trickiest spinners on Sri Lankan pitches.

With the Irish players - established giant-killers - posing a massive challenge to Australia's campaign at the very beginning, things can spiral out of control quite easily again for this side. Of course, the need to avoid choking is as critical as the will to go to the finishing line irrespective of margins of victory and defeat en route.