Travis Head says Australia’s World Cup triumph in 2023 is the blueprint for how they will pull themselves out of the mire in Sri Lanka. He’s comparing apples with oranges.

Australia’s first major tournament since 2009 without the famous five of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, David Warner and Steve Smith is on the precipice after the embarrassing defeat to Zimbabwe.

Glenn Maxwell is one of several Australia players out of form at the T20 World Cup.Credit: AP

If Mitch Marsh’s men can overcome their growing hurdles and lift the Twenty20 World Cup in just over three weeks’ time, it should go down as one of Australia’s greatest performances in a major tournament. Only the truest of true believers can see this happening.

Another loss to host nation Sri Lanka on early Tuesday morning (AEDT) would place them into “mathematically possible” territory. Only a decisive victory would inspire confidence they can make an impact later in the tournament. Right now, any win would do. They have lost their past four T20s against Test nations.

Australia have been in this position before. In the 2021 T20 World Cup, they were smashed by England and needed to win their final two group games by big margins to salvage a crushed net run rate to make the semis. In 2023, they recovered from two early defeats to win seven games to make the knockout stage.

“A few guys in that dressing room........

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