T20 World Cup 2026: Mohammed Kaif comes up with a bold statement for the Australian team after group stage exit
Mitchell Marsh’s Australia has officially been eliminated from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. They started their campaign with a massive 67-run victory over Ireland. However, they lost against Zimbabwe by 23 runs and Sri Lanka by 8 wickets.
After this, the most successful team in the cricket world is facing criticism. From their critics. Australia is a 6-time ODI World Cup Champion, 1-time T20 World Cup winner, 1-time World Test Championship winner, and 2-time Champions Trophy winner, but this time, Australia had to exit the group stage. Australia last won an ICC tournament in 2023, when they won the World Cup in India. Following this, they faced the exit from Super 8s in the 2024 T20 World Cup, lost semi-finals in the Champions Trophy and lost in the World Test Championship finals in 2025. And now, they have been eliminated from the group stage in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026.
Former Indian cricketer & present commentator Mohammad Kaif now made a bold call on the Australian team. According to him, Australia's performance has declined significantly since winning the 2023 World Cup. If Hardik Pandya had been in the final that day, Australia would have lost that final as well. He wrote in his X account,
“Mighty Aussies, they were called after winning the 2023 50-overs World Cup. After that, they had a sharp fall. 2024 World T20, 2025 Champions Trophy, 2025 World Test Championship - they were not Mighty. If Hardik Pandya had played the Ahmedabad final in 2023, the Aussies would have lost there, too.”
Mighty Aussies they were called after winning the 2023 50-overs World Cup. After that they had a sharp fall. 2024 World T20, 2025 Champions Trophy, 2025 World Test Championship - they were not Mighty. If Hardik Pandya had played the Ahmedabad final in 2023, the Aussies would have…
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) February 17, 2026
Former Australian cricketer Damien Martyn responded to Kaif's tweet, writing,
“Can’t be great forever. But the cabinet looks pretty good. It will turn again.”
So far, in the history of the T20 World Cup, Australia has not been as dominant as it is in ODIs and Tests. So far, Australia has won only one T20 World Cup (in 2021) out of 10 editions. While they were the runner-ups in the 2010 edition. Apart from that, they were the semi-finalists of the 2007 & 2012 editions.
Many believe that Australia's team struggled with injury problems among its players this time around, and this impacted the team's performance. Many also mentioned the 2023 WTC Final, in which India lost the final due to injury problems among its star players. In this World Cup, Australia’s bowling attack is looking inexperienced. Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are missing the World Cup due to injury.
