Finch had surgery in August to repair cartilage in his right knee, and his availability for Australia’s two warm-up games against New Zealand (October 18) and India (October 19) was initially questioned (October 20)
Aaron Finch’s rehabilitation from August knee surgery has gone well, and he will be eligible for Australia’s T20 World Cup warm-up match against India on October 20.
Finch had surgery in August to repair cartilage in his right knee, and his availability for Australia’s two warm-up games against New Zealand (October 18) and India (October 19) was initially questioned (October 20).
“Yeah, everything is fine.” I believe I will be nine weeks post-surgery tomorrow, so everything is going swimmingly. He remarked during the pre-tournament virtual media session on Thursday that it was probably a couple of weeks ahead of plan.
“It was definitely touch and go to be available for the two warm-up games,” Finch, who also bats first, said. “But at the moment it seems like there will be no difficulties, so looking forward to going out and getting back into it.”
Finch insisted that a struggling David Warner, who was withdrawn from Sunrisers Hyderabad’s playing lineup during the Indian Premier League’s last week in the UAE, would be fit for the T20 World Cup.
“I believe we’ve seen throughout the years that when he (Warner) has to bat against the best teams in the world, he’s considerably superior” (better player). “I have no concerns with the preparation that he has had,” Finch said of Warner, who has 81 T20 Internationals under his belt.
“We’ve seen him in fantastic spirits, he’s coming here with a wonderful attitude and he’s organising things behind the scenes, he’s doing everything he likes to do, and I have no doubt he’ll be ready to go come game one.”
Against October 23, Australia takes on South Africa at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi in the T20 World Cup.
Warner, a fiery opener, only appeared in two IPL games for SRH in the UAE leg — one against Delhi Capitals and the other against Punjab Kings — scoring 0 and 2 runs in each.
Due to a variety of factors, including the COVID-19 shutdown in Australia, the Australian players’ preparation for the T20 World Cup has been fragmented, but Finch stated his team is confident going into the competition.
“It’s the one we’ve been looking for.” We’ve been near a few times, but we’ve also been a long way apart at other times. Going into the game, we’re still quite optimistic (the World Cup).
“We have a squad that has played a lot of T20 together, but not a lot, and the guys are at various levels of preparation and coming back into playing.” “It’s all about getting it done on the day,” Finch, who has played 76 T20Is, added.
“We know that in T20 cricket, there are match winners all over the place, so all we have to do now is step up and get it done at the appropriate moment.”
“Similar to Maxi,” Finch responded when asked where Steve Smith would bat (Glenn Maxwell). Through the middle overs, he (Smith) is someone who can be quite flexible. He offers us a wide range of alternatives and flexibility.”
The Australian skipper also stated that the Ashes series against England has not caused any distractions.
“To be honest, there hasn’t been any diversion from that.” “All of that conversation is going on behind the scenes between boards and players associations and other stuff like that, so none of that has made it into the player’s chat over here,” he concluded.
