ADELAIDE: Australia captain Aaron Finch says he is more likely than not to play in Friday’s crunch Twenty20 World Cup Super 12 match against Afgha­nistan, despite suffering a hamstring strain on Tuesday.

Finch hit form on Monday with a 44-ball 63 in the win against Ireland but was unable to field after feeling a “twinge” during Ireland’s innings.

The defending champions will probably have to beat Afghanistan on Friday by a big margin in Adelaide to have any chance of making the semi-finals as one of the two top teams in Group 1.

Finch said he would not risk playing if he had any doubts about his fitness.

“Very hopeful to (play), yeah. I’ll have a good hit out this afternoon and give it a solid test out,” Finch told reporters before training on Thursday. “(It’s) maybe 70-30, but I’ll test it out properly this afternoon to make sure that I’m not hindering the side at all ... because I think the worst possible scenario is that you leave the guys short out there with one player fewer.”

Tim David also sustained a hamstring issue in the win over Ireland on Tuesday and Finch said the middle order batsman was in the same position as himself.

“He’s in exactly the same boat,” Finch added. “He’ll get worked out today, and we’ll know more during training, I guess, the likelihood of both of us playing, one of us, neither of us, whatever it looks like, but exactly the same.”

Wicket-keeper Matthew Wade will lead Australia if Finch has to sit out.

Australia began their campaign with a big loss to New Zealand which left them with a poor net run rate which could now jeopardise their semi-finals chances.

Third in Group 1, but level on five points with New Zea­land and England, Aus­tralia’s fate will depend on other results even if they beat Afghanistan handsomely.

“I think the reality is our first game has put us in this situation, so that’s OK,” said Finch.

“We knew for the rest of the tournament it’s going to come down to run rate if things go well.

“But there are still two (other) games to be played in the pool as well, so first and foremost we’ve got to get those two points.”

New Zealand play Sri Lanka in the first match of an Adelaide double-header on Friday, while England face Sri Lanka on Saturday in Sydney in the final Group 1 encounter.

Afghanistan, who are out of the final-four race after two of their matches were washed out, have injury concerns over leading spinner Rashid Khan.

Rashid struggled with his back and a knee problem in the defeat to Sri Lanka, but assistant coach Rais Ahmadzai said Thursday he was “fine and training” and the side wanted to finish the tournament in style.

“It’s really not an easy game for us, to play against Australia in Australian conditions, but we are here to give them a tough time,” said Ahmadzai. “I think Australia will be under pressure because they want to win, and we are here to finish the tournament with a high morale.”

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2022