Sydney, Sep 7 (ANI): Australia will suffer more humiliation and fall behind Ireland in Twenty20 world rankings if they fail to avenge their record first match loss to Pakistan on Saturday.
Only a slender 0.57 of a ratings point separates Australia from
Ireland after George Bailey-led side was handed a seven-wicket thrashing
by Pakistan with 31 balls to spare, their heaviest loss in terms of
balls remaining.Failure to level the three-game series in Dubai would not only hand Pakistan an unassailable lead, but also result in Australia slipping behind the Irish to 10th on the official ICC table, above only Zimbabwe.
Such a rating would make a
mockery of the market forces in the Twenty20 game. While the
semi-professional Irish do not have a player on the roster of any Indian
Premier League franchise, the 13 Australians in their 15-man World Cup
squad commanded more than $US6.4 million in fees at the lucrative
2011-12 auctions.
Many also hold deals in other Twenty20 leagues such as the Big Bash and competitions in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and England.
Bailey said his side can recover
from the rout, in which Australia made their second lowest Twenty20
total of 89, and win the World Cup, but they have just two more games
against Pakistan and two warm-up matches against England and New Zealand
to restore their confidence before their World Cup.
"I'm very disappointed and
there's plenty to go away and work on. You don't ever want to be setting
those sorts of records. But in terms of the group we've got together
and what we're capable of, it certainly hasn't altered my thoughts that
we can still be a very good team," Bailey said.
"I still think we can win it. Definitely. Absolutely. I certainly don't think we'd win if we played like we did today."
Bailey said he couldn't pinpoint one reason for the team's batting collapse. (ANI)