'Might be a full stop on everything' - Aaron Finch hints at T20I retirement post 2022 WC

Australia will host the eighth edition of the T20 World Cup in October-November this year, and the country’s white-ball captain Aaron Finch has said that it could be the final tournament for many of the aging squad members of the Australian team.

Australia will be defending their crown after winning the T20 World Cup last year in UAE after defeating arch-rivals New Zealand in the finals, in a repeat of the 2015 ODI World Cup Final. They will be playing in front of their home crowd this time, and the limited-overs skipper wishes a fairytale finish to the tournament by lifting the cup in front of them.

Finch, who himself is 35, pondered on the careers of his aging teammates as the tournament could prove to be one last hoorah for them. Matthew Wade, Australia’s hero in last year’s tournament, has already announced that he will step down from his international duties after the upcoming ICC event. Meanwhile, David Warner could also bid farewell to the format sighting to prolong his Test and ODI careers.

“It might be a full stop on everything (several players retiring from T20Is, including him) if it goes to plan like that. Fairy tales can happen in sports. I think, just naturally, when guys get to their mid-30s, it’s going to be that way. Davey (Warner) just keeps going; he could play for another 10 years, I think, with how fit he is and how much he loves the competition and continuing to challenge himself,” Finch said to cricket.com.au during the 100-day countdown celebration to the mega event on Friday.

‘It’s going to be an incredibly tough competition’ – Aaron Finch on T20 World Cup

Finch also commented on the nature of the tournament and how tough it will be to defend the title against several quality sides in the competition. He gave the example of South Africa from last year’s tournament who failed to qualify for the knockout stages even after winning four out of their five games.

Notably, Australia themselves were in a sticky situation in the semi-finals against Pakistan and needed incredible innings from Wade, who was dropped earlier in the innings, to make it through to the finals. The Australian skipper probably hinted at that moment and stated that a bit of luck is required in this format.

“It’s going to be an incredibly tough competition. We saw how brutal the format is with South Africa winning four out of their five games at the last World Cup and still not qualifying on net run rate. It’s just so brutal that you do need a bit of luck along the way. So let’s see,” he said.