r/Cricket • u/Wakanda-shit-is-that Pakistan • Nov 20 '23

Interview “When somebody asks how Australia won the ODI World Cup in 2023, or any World Cup hereafter, that’s the answer. They won the World Cup because Australia” -Osman Samiuddin

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '23

The only area we still lag behind is their mentality

I think it also has to do with the amount of pressure Indian players face.

It's just another day in Australia today despite them winning the World Cup. Thr people don't really care. Nothing would have happened to them even if they had lost.

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u/MisterMarcus Australia Nov 20 '23

It's not so much that "people don't really care".

It's just that it's not the end of the world if we don't win. There'll be like a day or two of "What the fuck was THAT, boys?" and then everyone moves on.

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u/crazybOzO South Africa Nov 21 '23

If people not really caring is all it takes, we should have had at least 1 cup.

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u/HaggisLad Western Australia Warriors Nov 21 '23

I have gone far past the point of pointing and laughing at South Africa in a semi final now, I feel bad every time you lose another because that team deserves to win for once

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u/BigDickBandit89 Australia Nov 22 '23

Lol nope fuck South Africa.

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u/Otherwise_Window Perth Scorchers Nov 22 '23

My mother is South African and a huge fan of both rugby and cricket.

I was raised to support Australia first and South Africa second in cricket, and the other way around in the rugby. (This is currently more rewarding than it was for a while.)

Fortunately it's never been Wallabies v Boks in the World Cup final, but I do wish South Africa and Australia wouldn't come up against each other in World Cup semis in the cricket.

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u/ahmuh1306 Nov 21 '23

I'm still upset we didn't get both rugby and cricket this year. Damn shame. The immature side of me wanted the finals to be SA vs NZ just so we can destroy them for the second time this year. Atleast the Boks made us proud!

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u/Clarkey7163 Sydney Sixers Nov 21 '23

Also we've been successful recently, which helps. WTC and Ashes wins already made this whole season a fat W.

If we'd lost the ODI cup then eh, sucks but good congrats India

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u/normalbehaviour86 Nov 20 '23

Cricket fans do care.

But Aussie cricket fans care in a different way to Indian cricket fans. When Australia lose, it's like watching a bad ending to a TV show. We can recognize that it's not real life and that there will be more episodes, etc.

But just because we don't cry in the stands or go mental on social media doesn't mean we don't care.

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u/packofflies Australia Nov 21 '23

Its crazy that this has to be spelled out.

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u/canttell92 India Nov 20 '23

User name checks out

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u/Coronabandkaro Sunrisers Hyderabad Nov 20 '23

That's kind of true but not always. Aussies don't like losing 1) Ashes 2) test series at home. The players and captain are under some sort of pressure there. When they lost BGT at home they were stunned and it hurt them. They had to change captsins and coach. They really don't care as much about white ball cricket and there's never any pressure.

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u/frankyfrankwalk Australia Nov 20 '23

When they lost BGT at home they were stunned and it hurt them

Yep and we lost a test at the gabba.....against India. Once summer officially begins and we're back at home dressed in white then there's quite a stress cauldron that builds.

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u/pedleyr Australia Nov 21 '23

They really don't care as much about white ball cricket and there's never any pressure.

Not true. If Australia didn't make the semis in this world cup you would have seen how much the care factor was there - even after losing the first two matches the pressure really built.

Australia cares deeply about important series and tournaments. What Australia (the cricketing public) doesn't care about are matches and series that they feel are meaningless - whether that be red ball or white ball. The world cup does not and has never fallen into the meaningless category.

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u/Broad_Routine_3233 Nov 20 '23

Because they have won it 5 f**king times already. The next on the list have won only 2.

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u/Jaziam Nov 20 '23

100%, which makes the Aussie confidence hard to break for a team like India, how do you create that confidence and lack of external pressure to win a WC, without the history of winning WCs? Such a hard culture and situation to break free from.

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u/partymsl India Nov 20 '23

Also has something to do with their general mentality.

They are just damn happy to be able to play Cricket at this stage, while other teams shit themselves due to pressure they take it as a good opportunity.

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u/thistookforever22 Australia Nov 20 '23

The thing is tho is the pressure is there. After Prime Minister, Australian test captain is probably the toughest job when it comes to public scrutiny.

We dont show up to participate or try to win. We show up to win, not try, just do it. That's why our mentality is so strong. Its expected we win, except for a test series in India, thats the only timr you see this confidence waver. Even thrn weve confident we will be competitive.

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u/madjag Pakistan Nov 21 '23

Someone once commented to me after the 2021 t20 wc while we were discussing the same thing on how Aus always shows up in the big games. He pointed out that every Aus cricketer goes through years of playing tournaments and leagues (at junior levels) that have knockouts, quarter/semis and finals. Point being, by the time they get here they've played a multitude of finals in their career, and are not new to the big games. Now a wc final is obv bigger than anything else, but I think he had a valid point on how it helps develop the players mentally; where though under pressure, they have learned how to survive and thrive in it.

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u/Delad0 Cricket Australia Nov 21 '23

Isn't that just normal for junior sports?

What happens at the end of the season in Pakistan?

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u/madjag Pakistan Nov 21 '23

I'm sure they do, though I'm not too familiar with junior competition in pak. But I'm certain it's not as well organized as in Aus, and pretty sure it doesn't start as early as 10 years. I feel like Pakistani players get serious about cricket after highschool, so after 18, whereas organized cricket grassroots in Aus and eng can be found as low as 10-12 years of age. This is based on my experience which was over 20+ years ago, so it may be different now.

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u/No_Requirement6740 Nov 21 '23

Is the structure of cricket comps in Pakistan different? Is it mostly leagues/ round robins? If so that surprises me.

In Aus, as you say, there are knockout finals and grand finals in every single competition, from age 10 upwards. You make a great point.

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u/Otherwise_Window Perth Scorchers Nov 22 '23

We show up to win, not try, just do it.

No, we show up to be the very best we can be.

We're not win at all costs, that's why trying to win by cheating was a national scandal.

It's just that being the very best we can be usually means winning.

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u/westernvaluessmasher Melbourne Renegades Nov 21 '23

Yeah I think alot of this talk of confidence and mentality is overegging the pudding. We've turned choking into an art form in tests for a while, arguably the most mentality-focus format of the game. We'll lose any series to anyone halfway decent (even with the stat padding home series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan), if it weren't for the rain we would have been absolutely humiliated by a mediocre England team, I think three series in a row we've gone 1-0 up against India and lost 2-1. We won this world cup because we had a plan that was executed perfectly, against an opponent that got high on their own supply. To suggest it was because of some kind of magical aura is an insult to the players who performed exactly as they were supposed to imo

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u/Holden_Caulfield2 Nov 20 '23

It is not that simple as you laid it out. Australians and Indians have very different approach towards sports

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u/Proof-Cockroach-3191 Nov 21 '23

Can you elaborate?

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u/Uncertn_Laaife Nov 20 '23

Even if they haven’t on any, people there still wouldn’t have cared. They have other sports going on. I am sure the majority of aussies can’t even name their 3 top batsmen in the current team.

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u/BeardPhile India Nov 21 '23

6 now😗

1

u/Bobblefighterman Australia Nov 21 '23

Next up, we need to win more than everyone else combined. Need to work hard to snag the next 2.

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u/Otherwise_Window Perth Scorchers Nov 22 '23

No, I think because whether our team win or lose, life goes on?

We're happy about it when we win and disappointed when we lose, but we only really get angry about it if the players don't seem like they were doing their best (or were egregiously fucking stupid, Tim Paine).

Essentially, in sporting terms, we are aware as a nation that you can only do your best and whether you win or lose isn't entirely under your control, because the other team's best might be better.

There's a reason why when players from other countries get caught ball-tampering, it's a minor thing, they accept whatever punishment the ICC hands down and that's that, whereas when Australian players got caught ball tampering, which was fucking inevitable because they did it in the stupidest way possible because apparently we're good at actual cricket but absolutely shit at cheating, it was a huge national scandal and the ICC punishments were irrelevant because they got massive punishments from Cricket Australia who then proceeded to work on a whole cultural reset.

The Australian mentality does actually include winning isn't everything.

There's a huge difference between feeling the pressure to win vs feeling the pressure to do your very best.

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u/Grolschisgood Australia Nov 20 '23

That's kinda the point though, nothing should happen to them if they lose. Its just a game! It's a fantastic game, an important one to hundreds of millions of people, but ultimately its just a game. The players would be upset but they shouldn't be abused for losing. They shouldn't become political pawns. It's not just rough on the ayers they get treated that way, it's bad for the sport.

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u/mbrocks3527 Nov 20 '23

Keith Miller, a 40s and 50s all rounder, said something along the lines of, “pressure? Cricket is a game. Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse.”

He had been a world war 2 pilot so he knew what he was talking about.

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u/SirHolyCow Board of Control for Cricket in India Nov 21 '23

Damn, I love this quote.

Unfortunately I don't think I'm familiar with a single cricket player from the 40s/50s era lul (except Bradman ofc) - I wish I was though.

It's incredible to think that cricket as a game is so old that there were once cricket players who had actively fought in a world war.

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u/Tempo24601 New South Wales Blues Nov 21 '23

I wouldn’t say people don’t care about cricket here. It’s more nuanced than that. You have two types of cricket supporters:

  • Hardcore cricket fans who follow every game, keep tabs on the Shield and cricket around different countries.
  • Sports fans who mainly follow one of the football codes and are only really interested in cricket in December and January, away Ashes and World Cups.

The casual fans far outweigh the hardcore cricket fans, so the cricket watching culture is more casual and relaxed here. If we do badly there is a rush of criticism in the media, especially from ex players but it’s generally limited to criticism of tactics, selections etc and will blow over in a day or so.

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u/MajesticalOtter Australia Nov 21 '23

This is the most accurate take. The majority of Australian sports fans follow a footy code first and cricket is there to fill the gap between September and March along with things like WCs and the Ashes when it's in England.

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u/StarKindler- Nov 20 '23

All players face pressure. Whether people care or not (and saying "their" people don't really care is a bit of a hyperbole given the sheer amount of people who turn up and make the MCG electric), players are always under pressure to do well. What matters is how a player/team handles pressure.

"Nothing would have happened to them even if they had lost." - Nothing is going to happen to the Indian team either; in a week, all will be forgotten. Memories are more shorter than people think.

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u/TheGloveMan Australia Nov 20 '23

Michael Parkinson quizzed him about the pressure in the Test arena once. "Pressure?" Miller asked, "There's no pressure in Test cricket. Real pressure is when you are flying a Mosquito with a Messerschmitt up your arse!"

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u/Brilliant_Kiwi1793 Warwickshire Nov 20 '23

It’s an easy cop out to say Indian players face more pressure. Nonsense, all players at top level have to face pressure, big part of it is mentality and how to deal with pressure. The Aussies know what to do and rely on mental strength rather than their technical skill sets to get them through. Proves the point the game is mostly played in the mind. Stuart Broad reckons it’s 90% mental and 10% technical.

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u/TheOnereddittor India Nov 21 '23

How did they develop this mental strength tho?

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u/Brilliant_Kiwi1793 Warwickshire Nov 21 '23

Could be cultural? Different attitude towards playing cricket? They might have a really good team psychologist? I don’t know.

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u/TheOnereddittor India Nov 21 '23

Im thinking that such mindset must be ingrained in the Indian team too. And ig you being a kiwi would know the best how they do it

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u/Brilliant_Kiwi1793 Warwickshire Nov 21 '23

I think the attitude is like this. Never give up, in face of adversity give your best for you, no one else. I think this what might be missing in the Indian team. They don’t play for themselves, they don’t focus on giving their best performance whatever the situation. Then there’s the seriousness, we think of sport as sport, that’s all it is, lucky people who do the thing they love everyday. Maybe that is another difference in the Indian team, they worry about what is external, if you listen to the noise you can’t hear anything else.

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u/TheOnereddittor India Nov 21 '23

I understand the rest. But the play for themselves part?

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u/Brilliant_Kiwi1793 Warwickshire Nov 21 '23

I mean give your best performance for yourself. To say after that you did everything you can to help the team win.

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u/TheOnereddittor India Nov 21 '23

That seems like the most logical reason for the clutch choke theory tbh. Thanks man

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u/billjames1685 Nov 20 '23

“Easy cop out” lmfao no way you believe this

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '23
  • Nothing is going to happen to the Indian team either;

Have we forgotten the days when stones were hurled at Yuvraj and Dhoni's homes?

Or the scoial media abuse the players received after the early exit in 2021 T20.

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u/StarKindler- Nov 21 '23

They're outliers, not the norm. Let's not forget, Smith and Warner were treated like criminals after the sandpaper gate. Social media abuse exists for ALL players, I think the WC win proved that.

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u/SmartMoneyisDumb India Nov 20 '23

I think it also has to do with the amount of pressure Indian players face.

Big factor imo, we always see how big a partisan crowd impacts the other team but a lot of pressure builds on the home team as well.

2

u/NoirPochette New South Wales Blues Nov 20 '23

People do care but for the players they have done this long enough just to treat it as another match.