New Delhi [India], February 18 (ANI): Following Australia's shocking T20 World Cup group stage exit, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has said that he does not think that the Aussies place less emphasis on the most prestigious T20I prize, saying that the exit had something to do with a hectic schedule towards the back end of the last year and early 2026, which saw them play The Ashes series at home and the Big Bash League (BBL) franchise tournament.

Australia's largely disappointing record in the ICC T20 World Cups has continued. They crashed out after a win over Ireland in the opener, losses to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka and a washout of the Zimbabwe-Ireland clash.

Apart from winning the 2021 championship, the runners-up finish in 2010 and semifinal finishes in 2007 and 2012, Australia have largely been forced to watch from sidelines rather than being part of the most exciting stages of the tournament: semifinals and finals. While they do know plenty of things about winning trophies, going by their six 50-over World Cup titles and an ICC World Test Championship mace, they have not been able to replicate this in T20Is.

Even before the tournament, they had been clean-swept 0-3 during the tour to Pakistan. During the Ashes, it was Travis Head, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis from the current squad who were a part of the prestigious Test series, with Pat Cummins, who played just one Ashes Test and Josh Hazlewood, who missed out the entire series, missing on the T20 WC flight as well. Plenty of marquee Australian players had also taken part in the BBL before the tournament, including skipper Mitchell Marsh, to get some match practice.

Asked if Australia did not take the T20 World Cup seriously, Ponting said he is not sure that's true.

'I am not sure that that's true. I think it is probably hard for a lot of the players to get up immediately after an Ashes series. And let us not forget, our guys just went through five really long Test matches and it is physically and mentally draining for a couple of months. Some of the boys went back and played some BBL. The other guys decided to try and rest and freshen up and be ready for a World Cup,' Ponting told ICC Review.

'But trust me, any Australian team that I have been in or been around, yes, the (home) international series is important, Border-Gavaskar (Trophy) is important, but the reason you play is to win World Cups and win titles. The fact that we had as many players out as we did and some of our best players just not stepping up is the reason that you do not win.'

'The teams that are left now, the teams that need to have their best players playing well at the back end of this tournament if they are indeed going to go on and win this tournament as well,' he concluded. (ANI)