Melbourne: Australia skipper on Sunday was ruled out of the remainder of Australia’s tour of the West Indies and their upcoming series in Bangladesh. Finch suffered an injury to his right knee in the lead-up to the T20I series against the West Indies and further aggravated it during the final match last Friday. He has been out of action since.
With a swift recovery ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in October-November the priority, the Australian captain will return home to complete 14 days mandatory quarantine before likely undergoing surgery. ‘I’m extremely disappointed to be heading home,’ Finch said.
‘This was considered the best course of action rather than travelling to Bangladesh, not being able to play and losing that recovery time. I will have the surgery if required and start the recovery process ahead of the World Cup,’ he added.
Cricket Australia’s medical staff and selectors remain ‘optimistic’ that he will recover in time for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which gets underway in October. Finch is a key cog in Australia’s plans to win the men’s T20I World Cup for the first time. He is placed third on the ICC T20I men’s batting rankings and is the format’s fourth-greatest run-scorer (2473 runs at 37.46) with his highest score (172).
Alex Carey will captain the side in the final ODI in West Indies while a new T20 captain will be named over the course of time. Matthew Wade is the designated vice-captain of the T20 side and even led a game against India in Finch’s absence last year.
(Agencies)
