Aaron Finch confident of regaining peak fitness before T20 World Cup

Australia skipper Aaron Finch, who was ruled out of the ODI series against West Indies and the following five match T20I series against Bangladesh due to a knee injury is confident of regaining full fitness before the T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman. Finch, who has flown back to Australia, is currently serving a two-week quarantine post which he will undergo surgery to mend his knee. Finch had sustained a cartilage injury ahead of the West Indies T20Is but managed to lead the side in the series. However, he reaggravated the injury during the last match of the series.

"I had a little injury just doing a fielding session before I left – I've never had any knee problems – and it just started to get a bit sore. The more that we trained and played… stopping and starting and turning, that kind of thing was causing it some issues."

"So I had a couple of scans in the West Indies and there was a little bit of cartilage, a bit of meniscus damage. Hopefully, it will be a quick cleanout once I'm out of quarantine and it'll have me back up and running with plenty of time left for the T20 World Cup," added Finch.

Meanwhile, the Australian has not enjoyed great success with the bat of late and the break could well turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the Australian skipper ahead of the showpiece event.

Australia were handed a crushing 4-1 defeat to West Indies in the T20I series and the skipper rued lack of experience for the same. He, however, highlighted that despite missing the big players, Australia were able to compete with a strong West Indies unit. Finch said even though the scoreline suggests 4-1, Australia played good cricket and had they capitalized on crunch moments, the results could have been different.

"It's not a flattering scoreline but the West Indies have got a very experienced side… and some brute power But I think the fact we were in three of those games was a real positive. We should've got over the line in the first one – that was a really ordinary batting display chasing 140," said Finch.

"So with a really inexperienced group, the fact we were able to match the West Indies for a lot of that series – and we just got blown away in a couple of different parts, which when you've got a group that is still developing (is going to happen) – was a real positive," added Finch.

Australia will now play a five-match T20I series against Bangladesh starting August 3. In the absence of Finch, Matthew Wade is expected to lead the side.