T20 World Cup Final | Called Langer a few months ago and said Warner will be Man of the Tournament, reveals Finch

11/15/2021

After Australia defeated New Zealand to lift their maiden T20 World Cup title on Sunday, team's captain Aaron Finch revealed that he had called head coach Justin Langer ahead of the tournament and predicted that David Warner will be adjudged Man of the Match. Warner scored 289 runs at the ICC event.

The 35-year-old who was dropped by his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) after two bad outings in the secon leg of the IPL 2021 and was dismissed for 0 and 1 in the two warm-up games ahead of the Super 12s.

However, he returned back to form just on time and finished behind Babar Azam (303) as tournament's second-highest run-scorer. He smashed 89*, 49 and 53 in the last three games for Australia at the ICC showpiece event and was adjudged Man of the Tourament following his team's 8-wicket title win at the Dubai Interntaional Cricket Stadium.

After New Zealand posted 172/4 courtesy Kane Williamson's 85, Australia chased down the target with utmost ease with 7 balls to spare. Apart from Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell contributed with 77* and 28* respectively.

Aaron Finch in the presss match press conference has revealed that he had made a prophecy on Warner's form well in adavance.

"You didn't expect that? I certainly did. Without a word of a lie, I promise you, I called Justin Langer a few months ago and I said, 'Don't worry about Davey. He'll be the Man of the Tournament.' I thought Adam Zampa should have been Man of the Tournament, personally, but he's a great player. He's one of the all-time great batters and he's a fighter. He's someone when his back is against the wall, that's when you get the very, very best of David Warner. It was a special finish of the tournament for him, the last couple of knocks," Finch said.

Further, Finch added that Australia were aware of their limitations against leg-spin bowling and therefore adopted an aggressive approach to tackle the threat. He pointed at that the Australian batsmen continued to play their shot against Shadab Khan despite him taking a 4-wicket haul in the semi-final. On Sunday, leg-spinner was taken to the cleaners as Australians collected 40 runs from his three overs.

"We knew that the middle overs against spin, particularly leg-spin, we understand that it hasn't been our strength... So we were really committed to remaining positive and aggressive against spin and that showed in the way Mitch and Davey played against New Zealand. Shadab got a four-fer in the semifinal but we kept attacking him. And we were so committed to it throughout the tournament that we were comfortable with failing being aggressive because we know that's when we play at our best," Finch added.

With the win, Australia now have six ICC World titles.