Australia’s wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade, who batted with absolute firepower and aggression to win them the semi-final contest against Australia, played the big final of the tournament despite injuring his back. He tore his back a day before the final against New Zealand and did not opt to check the status and seriousness of the injury to keep on playing in the final that Australia won to win their first T20 World Cup title.
"Day before the game, second last ball before the end of the session I did my side," Wade said on Thursday. “I didn't really want to go for a scan. But they sent me and then to the physio and the doctor's credit they kind of hid the information from me and just said let's see you pull up tomorrow and we'll go from there.
"It pulled up about the same as what it felt the night before, so I went and hit some balls before the game and I tried to bluff my way through that, then they made me hit a few more so I got through it and felt pretty fine."
"I was a little bit worried the night before the game, for sure. If I had have woken up and I couldn't swing the bat, I wouldn't have played. I was worried that if we'd batted first and I had to go as hard as I could and I tore it then, I wouldn't be able to keep and that would hurt the team a lot," he said.
"But in my mind, they would have had to strap me to the bed. I was always going to go out there and play. But I wouldn't have played if there was a chance it was going to hurt the team. I went and hit some balls before the game and bluffed my way through that. Then they made me hit a few more, but I got through it and it felt pretty fine."
Australia captain Aaron Finch said that he was not surprised at Wade’s turning up for the final of the tournament despite the injury. He said that Wade could have been out of the final only if he had lost one leg and although he was in some pain towards the end of bowling innings, his wicketkeeping was not affected one bit.
"There was always a little bit of a fear," Finch said. "I knew the result being a grade two, I thought that a grade two tear in his side was going to be tough. But if anyone's going to play it would have been him. You would have had to cut his leg off for him not to be out there.
"I thought he kept brilliantly. Towards the back end I saw him in a bit of pain with a couple of dives and throws so yeah, he was never missing that though."
Australia were down and out in the semi-final of the tournament against Pakistan before Wade produced a 17-ball 41 and stitched an unbeaten partnership with 81 runs with Marcus Stoinis to lead Australia into the final.