In the first T20 World Cup, Australia looked out of sorts.
They never adapted to the shortest form of the game, the same way India and Pakistan had.
Last year, they decided to have a couple of spinners, along with Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson. It was a good ploy, but unfortunately for them not good enough. They were getting the hang of the format, but not consistent enough.
This year, they have adopted a four-man pace attack and it has worked.
They probably teased everyone in the warm-up game by losing to Zimbabwe. It has always been a plot that they have followed.
In 1974, when Dennis Lillee was making his comeback in the test match that shot Jeff Thompson to superstardom, Lillee was bowling military medium pace at the practice grounds. Similar tricks have been employed by the Australians in future series. The warm-up game was just another example.
India wasn't the only one to be brutalized by the four fast men. Sri Lanka got buggered last night.
In a way it's good for India. According to one of the tweets I read, Australia had to beat Sri Lanka to let India have a chance of qualifying.
It would also do India a world of good if the BCCI payed the next team India is scheduled to play to forfeit and let India qualify.
Since it is Sri Lanka, we have to find a way of tackling Malinga. Maybe Zaheer could take Malinga out for a drink and tell his Mumbai Indians bowling partner to bowl like him for this one game.
Similarly, Yuvraj can finally put himself to use and take Mahela and Sanga for an all-night party before the game. Yuvraj isn't going to make runs anyway, but this way, neither will Mahi and Sanga.
Hopefully, however, Australia's pace attack destroys everyone else to prove that India is not the only side in the world that is genuinely fucked up against fast bowling.
