"Finchy's a class player” – Matthew Wade

Australia’s limited-over captain Aaron Finch has received another chance to find form before this year's mega event - World Cup, with the veteran Matthew Wade backing him. Finch, who demoted himself to No.3 in the batting position for two games against Sri Lanka to adjust Ashton Agar at the top, was dismissed for single digit scores in the three innings while opening the batting.

However, not only Finch, but David Warner too faced the same situation some time ago when he was dropped from his Indian Premier League team just before the start of the T20 World Cup. But he returned in form and smashed 289 runs in seven innings at a strike-rate of 146.70 to earn player-of-the-tournament in the mega event which led Australia to win their maiden T20 title. And, now Aaron Finch is going through that difficult phase as well.

"It feels like these questions have come before the last World Cup and after the first couple of games about David," Wade told cricket.com.au. "Everyone had their say about Davey and he was player of the tournament in the World Cup.”

"Finchy's a class player and I've heard people questioning where he's at. He averages (close to) 40 and strikes at 140 for a reason. He's a class player and he's the captain of our team. The questions are always going to come when you get a little bit older and you don't do well in one series. But they (Finch and Warner) are class players for a reason and the best we've had in T20 cricket ever,” he again shared.

"I don't expect any change at the top of the order to be honest. Those two will be there in the World Cup, I'm confident in that and when the big game comes, they will nail it," he further added.

Meanwhile, Wade's claim about Finch's T20 numbers in his career is valid; the veteran is Australia's all-time highest run scorer in international T20 cricket, while averaging 35 with a strike-rate of 146 as well.

After him, it’s Warner, who averages 33 and strikes at 140 as well. However, Wade’s comments came after the former limited-overs opener Mark Waugh told Fox Cricket that Finch "is not the player he was … I think the stats do back that up".

However, his points can’t be denied too, with recent numbers suggesting Finch has been going through a rough patch. In the 17 T20 Internationals Australia have played so far since the start of July last year, Finch averaged 20 while his strike-rate was 111 only.

Meanwhile, his average of 15.6 against Sri Lanka was his second lowest in a bilateral series where he has batted at least three times as well. However, it would have been easy for Aaron Finch to demand his familiar opening spot for the duration of this series, but he was willing to bat lower order too for the team’s sake.

"It’s a position that hasn't been questioned (much) before and I don’t think there should be questions. Finchy's a class player, look at his record," Wade said. "McDermott is going to come good. I think McDermott is going through exactly what Marcus Stoinis speaks about – you've got to create a bit of scar tissue.”

"You're going to come in and you're doing to do good in a few games and not so good (at times) when you first come in at this level. It's hard work mentally. He'll learn a lot – he's played five games in a row, which he has probably never done before," he concluded.