Aaron Finch has hailed Adam Zampa as the player of the tournament after Australia beat New Zealand by eight wickets to claim a first T20 World Cup title.
David Warner claimed the official Player of the Tournament award after a scintillating performance with the bat, hitting 53 from just 38 balls in the final to finish as the second-highest run-scorer in the competition, his tally of 289 bettered only by Pakistan captain Babar Azam's total of 303.
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However, Finch believes Zampa's contribution was even more important and heaped praise on the 29-year-old, who took 13 wickets in total.
Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga (16) was the only bowler to take more wickets in the tournament than Zampa, who also recorded the best figures in a single game (5-19).
"[Zampa was the] player of the tournament for me, controlled the game, got big wickets, super player," Finch said after the game.
"Can't believe people wrote [Warner] off a couple of weeks ago, it was almost like poking the bear. Mitch Marsh, what a way to start, put pressure on from the start.
"Matt Wade came in under an injury cloud and got the job done. He came in in the semi-final alongside Marcus Stoinis and did the business."
Men's T20 World Champions for the very first time! #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/sRlIlGLLeZ
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) November 14, 2021
Finch revelled in Australia's historic triumph and pointed to their eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh on November 4 as the turning point for their successful campaign.
"This is huge, to be the first Australia team to [win the T20 World Cup]," Finch continued. "So proud of how the guys went about the campaign.
"[The Bangladesh game certainly was the turning point], backs were against the wall. We had to fight and certainly did that, had some great team and individual performances."