Aaron Finch would have loved if David Warner got the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his 65 but accepted that Adam Zampa was deserving as his world-class spell was a game-changer in Australia’s seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in a T20 World Cup 2021 game on Thursday.
Zampa had figures of 2/12 and actually started Sri Lanka’s downfall with Charith Asalanka’s wicket after which Sri Lanka crumbled and managed only 154 which the winners surpassed in 17 overs, courtesy of Warner’s 42-ball knock.
“That was a really good performance. SL got off to a flier. But Zampa dragged it back, and then Starc. We felt it was a really good wicket and to chase that down was nice,” Finch said at the end of the match.
Asked who was his Man of the Match between Warner and Zampa, Finch said: “As a batter, I would loved a batter to get the award but when you’re looking at the impact on the game, Zamps was terrific tonight. He was fantastic, got big wickets. That was a world-class performance from him,” he said.
Zampa on his part felt that the slowness of the wicket did help his cause. “To be honest it (the surface) was quite slow in the first innings, it spun a little bit more than it did in the second innings. I think the moisture and dew took effect in the second innings,” he said.
“They are very good players of spin, I bowled well tonight and glad I did. I have tended to bowl a little bit in the powerplay, little bit towards the back end in recent times,” he added. Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka admitted that middle-order collapse was the reason for his team’s defeat.
“I have to admit that wicket was too good. Got the start we needed but in the middle phase we couldn't capitalise. Losing good batsmen in the middle cost us. The other day Asalanka took us home. The batsmen who get set need to continue till 15-16 overs. That's an area we have to be concerned about. Felt we were 25-30 runs short.”
