Australian legend Glenn McGrath delivers a brutal reality check to the Australia cricket team after their early exit from the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Back-to-back defeats against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka forced the former champions to confirm their return flight.
Explaining Mitchell Marsh-led Australia’s dismal performance, McGrath stated that the team lost the aura that they were famously known for. The former cricketer pointed out that the absence of two pacers, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, also affected the team’s performance.
Aura-less Australia: Glenn McGrath
During a recent conversation, the former cricketer, now a cricket expert, stated that they were worried about the team’s performance from the beginning of the competition, as Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins were both ruled out of the contest for injury reasons.
Hazlewood was named in the squad, only to be released for an injury days before their opening game of the campaign. According to McGrath, the team missed the aura.
“We said at the start of this World Cup that we were concerned about Australia,” McGrath said while speaking on the YouTube show ‘The Fast Bowling Cartel.’
“All of a sudden, the aura of that Australian team is no longer there when other teams play it … unfortunately, not surprising. You wonder what’s happening … it’s all over the place,” he added.
Why Steve Smith was not with the team?
McGrath criticized the national cricket team selectors as well for picking up Cameron Green over Steve Smith. The ex-cricketer put a question mark on Green’s role in the team.
The emerging cricketer, who is now a household name in T20 cricket, is a pace-bowling all-rounder. During the T20 World Cup 2026 matches, Marsh mostly used him as a batter, underutilizing his bowling credentials.
For the T20 WC 2026 matches for the Baggie Green brigade, Cameron Green registered 21, 0, and 3 against Ireland, Zimbabwe, and Sri Lanka. And bowled only in the second game against Zimbabwe, for an impressive figure of 1/6.
The legendary seamer said, if Green was there only for batting, then why did the selectors not select Steve Smith for the role? McGrath rates Smith highly in comparison to Green.
“If he’s not bowling, then what the selectors are saying is that he’s a better player than Steve Smith. If he’s not bowling, I just can’t see how he justifies a spot on that side,” McGrath criticized.
Mitchell Marsh also got injured
The team will have to play another match to conclude their group stage. On Friday, February 20, they will face Oman for their last match of the 2026 T20 World Cup.
It is worth noting that Mitchell Marsh also sustained an injury and missed a couple of matches as well. He was not part of their games with Ireland and Zimbabwe. Then Travis Head was their stand-in skipper, under whose leadership the Aussies won against Ireland but lost against Zimbabwe, from where their downfall started.
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