Afghanistan has made history by reaching the T20 World Cup semifinals for the first time. They secured an eight-run win over Bangladesh in a rain-affected thriller in St Vincent, which also knocked out the 2021 champions, Australia, from the tournament.
This win came after a dramatic day where Australia’s earlier defeat to India had already put them in a precarious position, needing multiple scenarios to progress.
As far as history goes, Australia is always considered to be a very strong team. They are in fact the most successful cricket team in ICC Cricket World Cups with 7 titles to their name.
Since we won’t be seeing Australia compete in knock-outs this year, we wonder when was the last time Australia didn’t make a World Cup semifinal.
It might come as a surprise but Australia didn’t make the semifinal in the very last T20 World Cup either. Led by Aaron Finch in the 2022 T20 World Cup, Australia couldn’t make past the Super 12 stage. They, however missed the semifinal by a very small margin, finishing 5th, after the top 4 teams that qualified.
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Aaron Finch did lead his team to the maiden title an year earlier, in T20 World Cup 2021. Before that, Australia have struggled particularly in T20 World Cups to reach the knockouts stage, with only two successful instances – the inaugural 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2012 edition.
The ODI World Cup is where they shine, with 2011 World Cup being the last time they couldn’t make it to the semis. They ended their run in quarter-finals that year. Before that, they were on a winning-spree of World Cups.
Australia, having knocked out from the ongoing T20 World Cup, will be looking to regroup and reassess where they stand and what strategies they need to adopt going further. Meanwhile, we will shifting our focus to the much-anticipated semifinals between India & England and South Africa & Afghanistan on June 27.
The most successful team in ODI World Cups, Australia haven’t been quite as dominant in the shortest format. They have only one title, in 2021, to their name so far.
Divy Dubey is a content producer for The Sporting News' India edition.
