"Everyone had written us off": Finch proud of Australia's turnaround

Australia's form in the shortest format of the game had been dismal coming into the tournament, having lost all the series played this year. They lost 3-2 to New Zealand in March before losing 4-1 to West Indies and Bangladesh in the lead-up to the tournament.

In fact, Australia's last bilateral series win came way back in February 2020.

Hence, coming into the World Cup, there were a lot of question marks over Australia and how they were going to fare in the tournament.

Safe to say, Australia have put all doubts to rest, winning four out of five games in the Super 12 to make it to the semi-finals where they will play Pakistan on 11 November.

When asked if Australia go into the game as underdogs, Finch praised Pakistan's performance in the World Cup so far but credited his team for responding after being written off ahead of the tournament.

"Yeah, Pakistan have played brilliant cricket," said Aaron Finch.

"I think the way that they've gone in the powerplay with the bat and ball has been really crucial to their success. I think in this format of the game, if you look over the last few series, everyone had written us off by now, so yeah, you can read into that what you like."

In fact, Finch said that the team hasn't been bothered by the outside noise coming into the World Cup and that they have always been confident in their ability.

"No, we didn't speak about it (being written off) at all to be honest. It's just one of those things that in the lead-up to the tournament you tend to hear things or see the odd quote or comment that people have written you off.

"It's interesting how the narrative can change really quick. About 10 days ago our team was too old and now we're an experienced team. That's just how it all gets portrayed. From day one I've had a real lot of confidence in the way that we've gone about this with the squad that we've got.

"I don't think that we've exceeded our expectations whatsoever. We came here with a really clear plan to win this tournament, and we're still alive to do that."

Pakistan, on the other hand, come into the semi-finals unbeaten in the Super 12. Pakistan have excelled in all the departments so far and have put an all-round effort as they became the first team to seal a berth in the final four.

Shaheen Afridi, in particular, has been a menace for opposition batters early on. Finch spoke about the importance of winning the battle in the Powerplay.

"I think what we've seen over the course of the tournament is how important the powerplay is for batting and bowling. I think the stats around the middle overs and the death overs are pretty similar throughout, but the Powerplay definitely holds the key.

"Shaheen has been in really good form for Pakistan. That's going to be a crucial battle no doubt."

Finch also praised the efforts of his pace bowlers ahead of the game while discussing the possible composition of his team for the all-important semi-final. In conditions that haven't been very favourable to the pacers, the trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have a combined 19 wickets at an economy of just 7.45.

"Yeah, we'll sit down and discuss the 11 this afternoon. There's no secret our quicks have done a really good job, and I think having wickets that have been used quite a bit throughout the IPL and now this tournament, I've been really surprised how well they've played.

"They've done a magnificent job to keep the conditions really fair, and I suppose excellent across all three venues for the Super 12s. I think, yeah, that's been brilliant.

"With the new ball, Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood have been fantastic. I think you can look at stats and you can deep dive into whether you should be bowling spin or quicks in the powerplay. Sometimes it just comes down to executing your best ball on the day over and over.

"For us, that's been Starc and Hazlewood first couple of overs generally and Cummo coming in on the back of that. We've been really happy with how they've executed and kept pressure on oppositions.

"They're a world-class trio of quick bowlers and we've got Kane Richardson there, as well, who's arguably one of the best T20 bowlers in the world who hasn't featured just yet, but yeah, we're really happy with how that's gone."

Asked if Ashton Agar could be drafted into the XI to counter the number of right-handers in Pakistan's lineup, the Aussie skipper decided to keep the cards close to his chest.

"Yeah, we consider everything. We literally throw up all possible combinations of teams and match that up against Pakistan, match that up against how we want to play, as well. I think that's really important to keep in mind that it's not purely just based on what the opposition looks like, it's also about how we want to structure up our 20 overs with the ball.

"So yeah, everyone will be thrown into the ring, Agar, Kane Richardson, Josh Inglis, Mitch Swepson, as well. Look, it's not just about going in there and looking at stats and saying, oh, this should be the 11. It's about structuring up how we want to use our resources, as well.

"It'll all be thrown up, no doubt."