Year-ender 2023 | Australia the perennial champions

Who could have thought Pat Cummins would lift the 2023 World Cup when he had no evident star power of a Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting or Michael Clarke? He may not have had that chutzpah of legendary skippers but what he had was what every Australian in cricketing gear is taught to have: A keen sense of winnability. Meenakshi Rao tells you why the Australians are perennial champions the public loves to hate.

Hyderabad: When the dapper-looking Pat Cummins elected to bowl on an edgy Ahmedabad pitch, the eyebrows rose in unison and Indians started rejoicing at the prospect of a third World Cup trophy. But that was not to be. Australia won their sixth ICC ODI World Cup like the eternal champions they are even as team India, after a brilliant and unbeatable run-up to the final of the 2023 World Cup, choked to the prospect of playing a champion team like Australia.

Why and how did that eventuality strike India? That was because the Australians know how to win and maintain their championship points. The reasons for this consistency are many, the foremost being their utmost professionalism – not just of the players that make it to their playing 11 but also because their cricket board is ruthless, sans politics and choosers of only the mastermen among the greats.

Australia World Cup champions for thesixth time:

They have been world champions six times, three in a row. That’s magnificent as a statistic to adorn their hall of fame. That's also magnificent when it comes to the passing out of their stars and skippers. Even when their team has been in transition, they have won when it matters the most. From Steve Waugh to Rickey Ponting to Michael Clarke to Steve Smith and now Pat Cummins, there has been enough silverware in their warehouse to stand up for lean days, – which by the way fear to make even a rare appearance.

All except captain Smith have World Cup trophies to their name. But that can be pinned on Smith’s own follies and corrupt practices which turned his career as captain upside down and barely gave him liveability as a player of worth that he was. Smith of today is a dented expert of the bat.

Winnability has been ingrained in the DNA of men from Down Under with such perfection that generational changes have failed to alter the sequence. Many around the cricketing world hate them and fear them but none can ignore them. They eek out respect from their fiercest haters and push them into the ring of shock and awe every time they win.

Right from their beer-guzzling fan armies which draw chagrin for resembling the cacophonous football crowds, to their players who play fast and furious notions of the game – aggression is a key ingredient of their win-mills.

The Australian Way:

On the field they are known to play hard. Even their chirp is choreographed to dent the opposition if the quicks fail to do so. The infamous monkey-gate scandal in which Harbhajan Singh was blamed to have given back the Aussies a dose of their own behaviour, came into the cricketing annals as a change in the mindset of the Indians who won that game on Australian soil.

World Cup 2023 showed Australian character:

Returning to 2023 and the World Cup that went to the Australians, it was a show of their winning mentality at work. All the players, despite the attack of Rohit Sharma, worked to their ability and were not to be deterred by either the prospect of silencing the one lakh Indian crowd in the stands or star players in blue challenging them.

Despite two defeats earlier in the tournament, one being against India, the Australians were never down or out. They worked their way to the playing four on the fourth rung and chatter was always about how India should not face them in the Finals.

That's what reputation does to you. Despite emerging as the best team in this World Cup, India was talked about as the underdog when it came to facing Australia in the Final, this despite the ground and conditions being very Indian, this despite over 100000 men and women cheering for the Men in Blue and this despite Team India being one up on Australia.

Australian system of producing cricketers:

All this was the result of the known strength of the Australians and that comes from their consistency in showing up in any Final of a summit tournament with grit, acumen and a mindset to win. Australians don’t know how to take defeat sportingly because they are constructed only to win.

Their nurseries, second only to India, drill professionalism above skillset. If the Indian cricket board is known for its financial clout, the Australian Cricket Board is known for being entirely professional, choosing players for every tournament without being swayed by their star-power and mining them out for a particular series based on their skill and ability to perform under a given circumstance.

It's a 360 degree graduation programme that the Australian Board follows and it all starts from the nursery level. Their domestic structure develops the backbone of their international outings. The structure is powered to professionally develop, enhance and steer young talent into the team. Their players come into the playing 11 from the domestic circuit and a keen selection committee.

You could never think of dropping a Sachin Tendulkar from the team or a match unless would opt out. For the Australians, even a Michael Clarke or Steve Smith could sit out without question. Their quicks are many and options for them too are myriad.

To their credit, all players who get a chance, play to potential and turn out to be the spokes in the Australian wheel of success. Something that the managements need to learn from while spotting, nurturing and honing talent for the ultimate game plans.

To be in an Australian state of mind this is what one needs: Mentality, toughness, thoroughness, self-belief, aggression, finesse and an unbreachable plan for victory. To face an face an Australian squad you need to beat them at their game. Nothing less will work.

Pat Cummins World Cup final pre-match comments:

Ask Pat Cummins. In his pre-final press conference at Motera, he gently suggested that he had plans to silence the crowds. He did! In his post-match conference, he admitted he was daunted to see the sea of blue rushing to the stadium when he was in the team bus, but that only made him more determined to silence them. He did!

That’s Australia in a nutshell for you – emulate, learn from and respect them.