The nine moments that mattered

Mitch misses out

Who knows what kind of impact Mitchell Johnson would have had on this World Twenty20 tournament? 

Yet after the past five months, his presence alone would have been a boost to Australia's bowling stocks, which was found sorely lacking as Mitchell Starc had a tournament to forget, Brad Hogg and Nathan Coulter-Nile were dropped after a single match, and James Faulkner played just once. 

Johnson was ruled out a week before Australia's campaign began, and while Doug Bollinger performed admirably in his stead, there is little doubt that opponents would have rested much easier knowing they wouldn't be facing Johnson's thunderbolts.

Hogg spills Umar

Australia were on top in the early stages of their match against Pakistan, and could have really seized the initiative with the final delivery of the eighth over. 

Nathan Coulter-Nile was the unfortunate bowler, as Umar Akmal thrashed one out to deep square leg, where 43-year-old Brad Hogg was patrolling the boundary. 

The ball was flying, but Hogg was in good position to take the chance overhead. Instead, he dropped it, and Umar scampered a single to move to 23. 

The dashing Pakistani would go on to make a match-winning 94, and ensure Australia’s campaign was on the back foot from the get-go. 

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Over and out

Australia arrived in Bangladesh possessing perhaps the most feared batting line-up of any side in the World T20. 

With the first over they faced in the tournament, that claim was blown wide open to debate, and a blueprint for success against Warner, Finch and co was established. Zulfiqar Babar was the bowler, opening Pakistan's innings with his left-arm orthodox spin, and grabbing two wickets – those of David Warner and Shane Watson – before Australia knew what had hit them.

While the Aussies got back on track thanks to a stunning innings from Glenn Maxwell, the lack of wickets in hand came back to bite them, and the theory that they could be spun out on Subcontinental pitches was ruthlessly put into practice.

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By George, he's gone

While Maxwell did his job by getting Australia back on a winning path against Pakistan, it was George Bailey's wicket that triggered a dramatic collapse. 

Bailey came to the crease after Maxwell’s fireworks with Australia needing a very manageable 66 from 50. 

For a middle-order man of his quality, it should have been a relatively simple matter of steering Australia home. 

Instead, he struggled to find his form on a slow pitch – which would prove the case for the skipper throughout the tournament – and when he was bowled by Shahid Afridi, his wicket was the first of seven to fall for just 29 runs, and Australia were suddenly none from one. 

Samuel's skidder

David Warner started showing signs of fatigue on this tour after a gruelling schedule over the past five months, but against West Indies, he was all set to light it up. Striking the ball cleanly and finding the gaps regularly, he cruised to 20 from 13 deliveries before spinner leg-spinner Samuel Badree skidded one on straight. 

It kept low, and clean bowled the left-hander as he attempted to cut. Australia went on to make 178, but it would have been plenty more had Warner hung around for even a handful more overs. 

So close for Starc

With the first ball he bowled against West Indies, Mitchell Starc angled one in to Chris Gayle, which pitched full, swung away, and beat the batsman all ends up – but also beat the stumps … somehow. 

The delivery was virtually unplayable, easily Starc's best of the tournament, but worthless. Gayle hit four of the next five balls to the fence, and West Indies were on their way. 

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Haddin left stumped

A couple of overs later, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin gifted Gayle another life, missing a stumping chance off the bowling of Glenn Maxwell. 

The imposing Jamaican was 26 at that point, and would go on to make 53 from 35 deliveries and give West Indies the platform from which they could launch their final, dramatic surge to victory.

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Sammy the destroyer

Undoubtedly the most pivotal couple of overs in Australia's tournament came in the dying stages of the West Indies clash.

With his side needing 31 to win from the final 12 deliveries, skipper Darren Sammy stepped up and did the job himself. 

He took 19 from the penultimate over, bowled by Mitchell Starc, to set up an appropriate finale: Sammy versus James Faulkner, whose pre-match statement that he didn’t particularly like the West Indians had added some motivation to the cause of the men from the Caribbean. 

Sammy duly did the business, sending the third and fourth balls over the ropes to seal an astounding win and all-but eliminate Australia from the tournament.

Pakistan seal Australia's fate

Australia were thrashed by India on Sunday evening in a display that was humiliating yet ultimately meaningless. 

That had been confirmed as the case about a half hour before George Bailey walked out for the coin toss with MS Dhoni, as Pakistan completed a convincing win over the host nation. 

Whether some of the batsmen's heads were already boarding the plane home after a long summer remains unknown, but with their one glimmer of hope snuffed out, they turned in the worst performance by an Australian batting unit since last winter's Ashes.