Former Australia pacer Brett Lee backed his home country to win their maiden T20 World Cup title and called them underdogs, as the Aaron Finch-led side prepares to take on Pakistan in the semi-finals of the ongoing tournament in UAE on November 11, 2021.
Australia has never won the T20 World Cup, though reaching the finals once in 2010 and losing to arch-rivals England. Lee said Australia has some "real momentum" with them and everything is clicking nicely for the Aaron Finch-led side ahead of the semi-final clash.
"After almost a month of action, it all comes down to five days, four teams, and three matches at the ICC Men's T20 Cricket World Cup 2021. And I reckon this could be Australia's year. I sense the belief in the Australia camp and I think there is some real momentum there. Everything is clicking nicely ahead of Thursday's semi-final against Pakistan," Lee wrote in his ICC column.
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"Go back a month and Australia didn't have any form on the eve of this tournament but their big players have caught fire. I was speaking to David Warner before it started and told him 'I have you down to be Australia's leading run-scorer, so don't let me down!' I did that on the belief that he is a big-match player, a big tournament player and that has not changed. Aaron Finch has found some form, Mitchell Marsh is hitting the ball well and Glenn Maxwell will come good," Lee added.
Lee further pointed out that Australia’s under-the-radar preparation for the T20 World Cup helped them as nobody had any expectation from the team.
“A key reason for Australia's success is how they have utilized spin. With the bat, we have some great players of spin and they have shown that in this tournament, but the big weapon is Adam Zampa. His form spinning the ball has been key and Australia has embraced a different T20 style with him. Before, the method was always to try to score 170-odd and then try and blow teams away with the quicks,” Lee further wrote.
"But they know they can't do that in the UAE and introducing a bigger spin element has helped massively," he signed off.
(ANI inputs)
