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5 challenges for Australia in the T20I series vs New Zealand | Key challenges Australia need to overcome in the 5-match T20I series against NZ

The T20 season is back amid the Test cricket around the world with Australia touring New Zealand to play a five-match T20I series. After a crushing defeat against India in the Test series at home, the Aussies will look to revive themselves by giving some tough challenges to their trans-Tasman rivals in this series, whereas the Kiwis will look to maintain their dominance at home. Also, this series will have significant importance in the context of the upcoming World T20 this year and both the teams will look to fill the holes, if any, in their respective lineups.

The Australian team’s performances in the recent T20Is have not been up to the mark. They lost to England in England, and India at home, both by a margin of 2-1. There are certainly some challenges ahead for them in this upcoming T20I series. In this article, I am going to mention five such challenges. Here we go.

Absence of David Warner and Mitchell Starc

Two of the most successful T20I players for Australia, David Warner and Mitchell Starc, are unavailable in this series, which I think is going to hurt them to some extent. Warner has scored at a blistering SR of 183.58 in New Zealand. In his absence, it will be interesting to see how Matthew Wade, who hasn’t played a single T20I in New Zealand, performs alongside the skipper Aaron Finch at top of the batting order.

Similarly, Mitchell Starc is their best fast bowler right now in T20Is. So, in his absence, it will be a big challenge for the Australian new ball bowlers to pick some early wickets and pressurize the opponent. His absence will be felt in the death overs too as he is a brilliant bowler in that phase of the game as well.

4. Middle order conundrum

The middle order of the Australian T20I batting lineup has not been impressive in the recent times. In the last 5 T20Is that the Aussies have lost, the average score of numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6 combined is a mere 18.16 and their SR is a shade over 127, which is not ideal for T20 cricket.

There has been lack of partnerships and influential individual performances by the middle order batsmen. This has been one of the major reasons of their recent unsuccessful chases against South Africa (where they failed to chase 159), England (they fell short of 163 by 3 runs) and India (they bottled chasing 162). The fragility in their middle order has compelled them to make experiments and try different combinations. This middle order conundrum is likely to persist in this series against New Zealand and it will be interesting to see whether they find a settled middle order or not.

3. Recent form of Adam Zampa

It’s the basic job of the frontline spinner of a T20 team to be economical and take wickets at the crucial phases of the game as well. Adam Zampa is no doubt a world-class leg spinner, but he was slightly off colour in the last 2 T20I series against England and India respectively.

In both the series combined, his average was 33.34 and bowling SR was 22.83, and Australia needs better from their premier spinner. Also, he has conceded 200 runs at an economy of 8.75, which is significantly higher than his career economy of 6.61. So, Zampa needs to get back his mojo for the sake of success of Australia in this series.

2. Batting in the death overs

Another concern for Aussies is their batting in the death overs in recent times. In the last 5 T20Is (out of 9) they have lost recently, their average score (excluding extra runs) in the last 5 overs of the game is just 38.4 with a poor scoring rate of 7.68. They have failed to hit boundaries consistently, which is quite evident from their boundary run percentage of a mere 35.41 in the death overs in those 5 games. They surely will look to improve their batting in the death overs if they want to win this T20I series.

1. Bowling in the death overs

Another thing that might create a problem for the Aussies is their bowling at the death. Particularly, in the last T20I series against India, the Aussie bowlers conceded 181 runs at a miserable economy rate of 12.34. In the grounds of New Zealand, where the boundaries are comparatively smaller than the Australian grounds, it will be a tough task for their bowlers to keep things tight at the death as they have a relatively inexperienced bowling line up in the absence of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins.

These are the 5 challenges the Australian team might face in the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand. Be sure to share your thoughts.

Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today.