John Buchanan believes that Australia has done fairly well so far in the tournament despite its defeat against New Zealand in the opening fixture.
However, the coach, who guided Australia to two World Cup wins in 2003 and 2007, believes that the Aaron Finch-led team should have ideally looked at improving the Net Run Rate against Ireland.
“Against Ireland, they probably had a chance to win by 70 runs, which would have helped the NRR again, but in the end, they ended up winning by 20 or 30 runs. It was a little bit disappointing from their point of view for having not been able to finish that innings off…”
For Buchanan, another disappointment is the indifferent form of David Warner. “They are really looking at Warner to anchor their innings, which then, possibly the likes of Marsh, Maxwell, David, Stoinis take in, far more than they have been. Batting lacks consistency at the moment, but that’s based on the fact that Warner hasn’t been on top of the innings, and Finch isn’t necessarily the Finch of old. Having said that, they are still finding ways to win. They still have a good chance for semifinal…”
Having seen the teams put up a tough challenge, Buchanan has pinned his hopes on New Zealand and believes that the side has all the firepower to make the final. “New Zealand will find their way into the final, they have a very good understanding of their game. They played some of those big games in recent times and they know how to get there…” Buchanan says.
“Semifinals will be interesting to see where the teams finish in their pools. Whether or not India can avoid New Zealand in the semifinals, if they can, then I think India might be in the finals. We are probably down to six teams total and that will become four and that’s still a hard enough pick…”
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