'There’s no way I’d say we’re behind India and England in terms of talent': Australia coach Justin Langer

Australia coach Justin Langer has brushed off the claims of his team not having enough depth in their squad. Australia were recently handed a crushing 4-1 loss by West Indies in the T20I series. Notably, the visitors were without the services of their key players who pulled out of the tour. It was an opportunity for the youngsters to grab a spot in the Australian team. However, they failed to live up to the expectations.

Post the defeat, many pointed out the lack of skill in the Australian team and compared them to India and England. The two teams at the moment can field two units at the same time. Even their B team can give a top side a run for their money. India did that in Australia when an injury-marred side defeated Australia in their home den while England showed their depth when a second-string unit beat a full-strength Pakistan in the ODI series.

Langer said that Australia are no way lagging behind India or England in terms of talent. He justified the loss in West Indies by saying the team has not played a lot of cricket of late. Australia next play Bangladesh in a five-match T20I series starting August 3.

“I came out of the T20 series with some real perspective. Our guys hadn’t played any cricket for three months and it’s so hard to come off no cricket – you can have as many nets as you like, you can have practice games, but you can’t (simulate match practice). The West Indies had come off a series against South Africa, they were a bit more battle-hardened. I thought there were some really good signs, we were close in that series, we were close in that first (T20I). There was some really good signs coming out of that I thought,” said Langer while speaking to cricket.com.au.

“There’s no way I’d say we’re behind India and England in terms of talent. We’ve just got to get them some experience,” Langer concluded.