‘Called Langer, Told Him Davey Will be Man of the Tournament’: Finch Says Writing Off Warner Was Like ‘Poking The Bear’
Australia captain Aaron Finch heaped immense praise on David Warner for his great run with the bat in the T20 World Cup. The left-hand batsman on Sunday smashed a 34-ball fifty against New Zealand in the grand finale, setting the tone for Australia’s first-ever title triumph. The Black Caps lost the game by 8 wickets.
Following an impressive 53 off 38 balls, Warner went on to bag the Player of the Tournament award. The honour was no less than a fitting reply to his critics who wrote him off a few months back when the left-hander struggled to stay among runs.
From getting dropped as Sunrisers Hyderabad captain in IPL 2021 to ending the T20 World Cup as the second-highest run-getter, Warner just proved why he is regarded as one of the bests in the business. Finch was delighted to see his mate reaching a new high and said writing Warner off at the start of the tournament was like ‘poking the bear’.
“I can’t believe people wrote him off a couple of weeks ago saying he was done. It was like poking the bear,” Finch said after the match.
Speaking at the post-match presser, Finch revealed an interesting story. While no one believed Warner to get back on track in the T20 World Cup, it was the Australian captain who was sure that his opening batter is going to bag the Man of the Tournament award.
“I called Justin Langer a few months ago and said: ‘Don’t worry about Davey, he’ll be Man of the Tournament’. He’s one of the all-time great batters. And he’s a fighter. He’s someone who when his back is against the wall, that’s when you get the very, very best of David Warner. It was a special finish to the tournament for him, the last couple of knocks,” Finch mentioned.
Warner amassed 289 runs from seven matches, with scores of 89*, 49 and 53 in the last three innings. He is now only the second player, after Kevin Pietersen, to win the win the Player-of-the-Tournament award from a T20 World Cup winning side.