The late champions won three, lost one and a game was washed out as they finished third behind New Zealand and England in a tight Group 1.
AFP Sports looks at where it went wrong for England as well as the side, which were considered pre-tournament favourites.
Australia never really recovered from their 89-run loss by New Zealand in their opening match. It was the worst start.
The hosts’ bowlers helped the Black Caps reach 200-3 with Devon Conway’s unbeaten 92 to avenge their loss to their neighbors in last year’s final. The hosts were bundled out for 111 runs.
The big margin of defeat came back to haunt Australia. They crashed out of the tournament despite being tied on seven points with England and New Zealand – their very low net run rate earned them a last-four spot.
Captain Aaron Finch came into the tournament under pressure due to poor form with the bat.
He scored 13 runs in the first match and then scored an unbeaten 31 in the next match against Sri Lanka, giving the team almost a loss of victory, but for Marcus Stoinis blitz.
Finch later called his 41-ball struggle in Perth “one-sided” and soon followed suit in his team’s win over Ireland with 63 runs, but the knock came late.
He missed the final match with a hamstring injury as Australia went into a tense four-run win over Afghanistan as of late.
David Warner was Australia’s leading batsman with 289 runs in their maiden T20 World Cup win in the United Arab Emirates last year but he inexplicably failed to set the home conditions on fire.
His scores of 5, 11, 3 and 25 are reflected in the team’s total, with the highest being 179 against ranked-outside Ireland.
The left-handed opener was bowled by Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq after attempting to hit the switch and was trolled by England’s Barmy Army, who tweeted: “David Warner batting with left hand Cleaned up while sanitizing hands.”
The Burmese Army was retweeting on Saturday, “Let the tears begin.”
If keeping Glenn Maxwell swimming between five and six was not enough, the opposition in Adelaide was also shocked by Australia’s decision not to pick paceman Mitchell Starc in the XI.
They needed a shot in the semi-finals to win against Afghanistan by a huge margin and Starc’s replacement Kane Richardson scored 48 runs in his four overs.
Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott said he was “shocked” by Starc’s omission and former Test captain Michael Clarke said: “I don’t get it.”
Maxwell, who hit a match-winning 54 against Afghanistan, would not be drawn on Starc, but said the hosts “probably missed the big moments at times”.
“The start of the first game of the tournament was not so good that it might have hurt us too,” he said. “Maybe it goes without saying.”
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