Smile is back on coach Langer’s face as Aussies target World T20 Cup
One doesn’t often see a smile on Australia coach Justin Langer’s face. There was no emotion even after Australia retained the Ashes this past summer, but after his team defeated Pakistan, the world’s top T20 squad last week, the grin has mysteriously returned. Australia completed a convincing 2-0 sweep of Babar Azam’s squad and sent a clear message to the world that it has set its sights on the World T20 Cup that will be played in Australia in 2020. Australia has now won its last three T20 series and that included a 2-0 victory over India on Indian soil. The Aussies then overwhelmed Sri Lanka and the icing on the cake was its whitewash of Pakistan. But one can understand why Langer always looked so serious. He was handed a team that had been traumatized by the sandpaper scandal in South Africa and, to add to his woes, he was unable to play his two best players — Steve Smith and David Warner — as both were banned for a year for their involvement in that caper. To make matters worse he was also minus his best two fast bowlers — Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins — who were rested by the selectors from the short format.
