Aaron Finch undergoes successful knee injury, targets T20 World Cup return
Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch underwent a knee surgery on Thursday, August 12, and expects to be fit for the T20 World Cup in the UAE. He had suffered a knee injury during the T20I series in the West Indies, after which he was ruled out of the subsequent ODIs and the Bangladesh tour.
Australia clearly missed the services of their senior players, including skipper Aaron Finch, in Bangladesh, where they went down 1-4 in the five-match T20I series. The Matthew Wade led outfit was bundled out for 63 in 13.4 overs in the fifth T20I, their lowest ever score in the format.
Finch, who has been out of action for almost a month now, is optimistic of a speedy recovery ahead of the T20 World Cup in the UAE in October-November. He is also hopeful of Australia overcoming their middle-order crisis in the shortest format.
“Jumped in for a quick procedure yesterday... I am on pain killers at the moment, and now all roads lead to recovery,” Finch told Sportstar. “Let’s wait and see how we go at the World Cup, and after that, we will see what the perception [around the middle-order] looks like. We are out there giving it a crack every time we step on the field, no matter which team we have in the park. We are representing Australia. At the moment, I don’t think there is a problem.”
In the fifth and final T20I against Bangladesh, Australia played three frontline spinners on a slow surface in Dhaka. Finch did not rule out the possibility of a similar spin-heavy lineup at the T20 World Cup later this year, given the pitch conditions and relatively longer boundaries.
“Depending on the conditions we face will depend on the makeup of the team. If the conditions are similar to Bangladesh I can’t see why three spinners can’t play in the same team.
The 32-year-old did not give away anything about the make-up of Australia’s T20 World Cup squad and left it to George Bailey, the new chairman of selectors.
“I actually don’t have any inputs in the squad, my job is to just get out there and captain the team. George Baileywill be selecting the squad,’’ he said.