Missing key personnel, missing aura: Ponting on Australia's early exit

Australia walk into ICC tournaments carrying an invisible weight of inevitability. Opponents feel it, commentators talk about it, and Australian teams themselves lean into it. But in this T20 World Cup, that edge seemed dulled. The swagger was missing, the intimidation factor blunted, and they exited at the group stage after defeats to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.

Ricky Ponting, a central figure in those eras of Australian dominance, didn't sugarcoat his assessment. Reflecting on the campaign, he said Australia missed the 'aura' that once defined them at these events.

"It's been a really poor campaign, it has to be said," Ponting said. "You look at that Australian team on paper, it just doesn't look to have that sort of aura around it that a lot of other Australian teams have going into ICC events and World Cups.

"You need to have your best players and your most experienced players standing up and winning big moments for you in these tournaments if you want to go ahead and win and Australia haven't had that.

"They had some injury concerns at the start with Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins being ruled out and then Tim David not available right at the start as well. But I think just losing to Zimbabwe like they did, that's going to be the game that they're going to think back and think like that's our World Cup gone, there and then."

Ponting noted how thin the margins can be in T20 cricket, and how one misstep can undo weeks of planning.

"I think looking at the pool before the start of the tournament, I felt Sri Lanka would be difficult to beat at home and that's certainly the way it turned out," he said. "They played really well against Australia. That was an amazing run chase.

"But to think that Zimbabwe outplayed Australia in an ICC event, it's those opportunities that you can't afford to give up in a tournament like this."

Ponting also refused to buy into the theory that Australia did not view the T20 World Cup with the same seriousness as other competitions.

"I'm not sure that that's true. I think it's probably hard for a lot of the players to get up immediately after an Ashes series. And let's not forget, our guys just went through five really long Test matches and it's physically and mentally draining for a couple of months.

"But trust me, any Australian team that I've been in or been around, yes, the home international series is important, Border-Gavaskar Trophy is important, but the reason you play is to win World Cups and win titles. The fact that we had as many players out as we did and some of our best players just not stepping up is the reason that you don't win."

Because ICC titles define eras, validate Australian teams, and shape legacies, the build-up to the next T20 World Cup will soon gather pace. Ponting was willing to look ahead at what this side might resemble by then. With senior quicks battling fitness and several white-ball mainstays on the wrong side of 30, transition feels inevitable. The next cycle, he suggested, will require fresh energy, renewed hunger and, perhaps most importantly, the rebuilding of that aura.

"I think Mitchell Marsh will probably hang on long enough for that and I think Travis Head will definitely be around and Josh Inglis will be around. Steve Smith has been very vocal about him wanting to be a part of an Olympic team as well. Whether or not that happens is a different story," Ponting said.

"Cameron Green will be around if in fact his form is good enough to stay in the side. That's another bit of a worry I think for Australia, certainly across Test match cricket and probably T20 cricket, what we saw in this World Cup. You would think Nathan Ellis would be around, Xavier Bartlett will be there. Cooper Connolly would be there and thereabouts.

"Glenn Maxwell, I don't think will be there. I think it looks to me like his career is coming towards an end. Marcus Stoinis would also probably be a question mark, but he's predominantly playing only T20 cricket tournaments around the world these days.

"So there will be some change. Matthew Kuhnemann he's young enough to still be around as well if they decide to have two spinners in their lineups. So there could be some changes, but I guess, I mean, we're still, what are we, 18 months away from that, two years away from that happening. So let's wait and see."