Langer took all the advice on board from players: Finch

Australian T20 World Cup-winning skipper Aaron Finch has revealed that he had rushed his return from knee surgery to feature in the recently concluded showpiece event in the UAE and Oman, but wants to continue to lead Australia in the next two ICC white-ball events - 2022 T20 World Cup and 2023 50-over World Cup. 

"If I can get there, absolutely. I probably need a little bit of extra time to get my knee right now. I pushed the rehab really hard and probably paid the price for it a little bit throughout the tournament. So yeah, maybe a little bit more time off at the moment to just make sure I get that right.

"I'll wait and see over the next couple of weeks and not sure when our first game is for the Renegades against Adelaide but we'll wait and see to see if I'm right."

The right-handed opener didn’t have a great tournament with the bat and could only manage 135 runs in seven innings at an average of 19.28 and a strike rate of 116.37. Finch, who has handed over the Melbourne Renegades captaincy to the new recruit Nic Maddinson, said he has had informal discussions with chairman of selectors George Bailey. 

"I've spoken with Bails about that over the last six months. There's going to be a period over the next two or three years definitely but that was all. That wasn't an in-depth conversation. It was just more to put on the to-do list over the next couple of months.

"There was a call made to George Bailey, between the stadium and the hotel, and a real push from everyone to name the squad for the next World Cup now. So that was quite funny," joked Finch.

Finch said it was Pat Cummins who stepped up in the dressing room after Australia were hammered by England in the Super 12s stage. The Australian vice-captain spoke to all the players and kept the intensity high. "I think Patty Cummins was the one who spoke about it after the England game. Just about the intent to be really aggressive and make sure that you're putting as much pressure on the opposition as you can.

"I was really proud. That the commitment that we made to keep being really aggressive as a team was the most important thing. And especially after the England game, we felt as though we were a little bit timid and got outplayed. And once we were on the back foot we never transferred the pressure back to England at any point. So the fact that we committed to playing our way and being as aggressive as we could be, I think played a really big part in that."

Finch also heaped heavy praise on head coach Justin Langer and the other coaching staff. "It was a great feeling amongst the coaching group and the playing group for the whole World Cup. I think JL took all the advice on board from the players and no doubt it was really tough. It was confronting and that goes both ways. You have some really honest conversations which aren't always the easiest ones to have. But he took that all on board and probably handed the reins over a little bit more to the playing group and his assistant coaches in their various areas.

"Andrew McDonald with the assistant coaching in this sort of strategy side of it with and the fast bowling, Michael Di Venuto batting, Jeff Vaughan fielding and Sridharan Sriram as the spin coach to allow them to work a little bit closer probably one on one with players a little bit more. So it was a great tour."